Feb 25 2015
Following the successful grand opening of Superior Grocers at Hawthorne Plaza in Hawthorne, CA on February 5, 2015, the Canyon Catalyst Fund, the Canyon Capital Realty Advisors’ emerging manager program, along with Paragon Commercial Group announced the commencement of construction on a major repositioning of the Rancho Las Palmas Shopping Center.
Centrally located in the heart of Rancho Mirage at the highly visible intersection of Bob Hope Drive and the U.S. Highway 111, the Property will be completely remodeled to include enhanced architecture and landscaping, improved pedestrian connectivity, energy efficient lighting, enhanced access from both Highway 111 and Bob Hope Drive, and a dominant regional tenant lineup. The upgraded shopping center will be anchored by a 48,000 square foot Hobby Lobby, 30,000 square foot Stein Mart (NASDAQ: SMRT) and a new CVS Drug Store (NYSE:CVS).
“We are pleased to welcome Hobby Lobby and Stein Mart to Rancho Las Palmas and to the City of Rancho Mirage,” said Erwin Bucy, a Principal with Paragon. “They provide value oriented, high quality shopping options for residents and visitors to Rancho Mirage and surrounding desert communities. The combination of Hobby Lobby, Stein Mart, a new free-standing CVS along with a 10,000 square foot specialty grocer will form an excellent base of anchor tenants that we are certain will continue to attract new inline tenants to the center.”
Following five years of increasing vacancy after the departure of the previous anchor tenant, the CCF and Paragon partnership acquired the Property in March of 2014. Within the first nine months, Paragon executed all new anchor tenant leases and worked closely with the City of Rancho Mirage to obtain full unanimous approval of its redevelopment plan in December of 2014. As part of the redevelopment, CVS will relocate from its current inline suite to a freestanding location with a drive thru on the hard corner of Highway 111 and Bob Hope.
Rancho Las Palmas is located adjacent to The River, a major regional retail and entertainment destination, and benefits from one of the busiest intersections in the entire Coachella Valley, with average traffic counts of over 65,000 cars passing by the shopping center daily. In addition to the growing number of Coachella Valley residents, the daytime population for the area includes approximately 128,000 employees who work within a 10-mile radius of the shopping center and 10,000 students who attend the College of Desert located 2.5 miles away.
“We would like to thank CVS and the City of Rancho Mirage,” said Maria Stamolis, Senior Managing Director at Canyon Capital Realty. “They have been excellent partners who believed in and supported our vision for the project. We would not have been able to transform Rancho Las Palmas without their full support.”
Source: http://www.prosek.com/