Marin Gateway Shopping Center lands a buyer (really this time)

The San Francisco Business Times reports that the Gateway shopping center in Marin City has been sold to an affiliate of the Gerrity Group for $36 million. The center was sold by the Bay Area Council, and was previously reported as sold to a joint venture between Developers Diversified and BIG Shopping Centers, although this sale failed to finalize.

From the SFBT:

"Gerrity Group was formed to acquire well-located shopping centers where it can add value and create additional quality by investing in capital improvements, operations and management," (Dan Wald of Cassidy Turley) said in a statement.
A year ago, reports surfaced that a joint venture of The BIG group, an Israeli company, and Developers Diversified, a U.S. real estate investment trust, were going to buy Marin Gateway for $36 million. The property was first put up for sale in April 2010.
Wald said that BIG put out its press release about the deal while still in the due diligence phase, and that Developers Diversified chose not to move forward with the deal after the due diligence.
"That was unfortunate, because (BIG) announced the price, and that created a ceiling," Wald said

Congratulations to the new owners. They have a little work to do to lease up several remaining vacant stores.

Marin retail sales hit by economic worries

Fears that the economy is sliding back into recession have had a negative impact on retail sales in Marin County. According to data released by the State Board of Equalization, just $2.6 million in sales tax distributions were made to cities in Marin in September. That total represents a fall of 6.5% over September 2010, and is also 3.9% less than the September total in the depths of the 2009 recession.

As the chart below shows, the rolling 3-month average for 2011 is tracking an almost identical path to 2008. Does this mean 2012 will turn out to be another 2009? Let's hope not.