A two-wineries-for-one sale with a Funk Zone locale in play
Elijah Brumback
If you’re in the market to purchase a full-scale winery, then why not buy one with a prime piece of Santa Barbara Funk Zone real estate thrown in the deal?
Agua Dulce Winery in the Sierra Pelona Valley, about an hour north of Los Angeles, was recently put on the market for $23.5 million. It was founded in 1999 and released its first product in 2001.
The vineyard covers nearly 100 acres and produces six grape varietals. The property includes a 5,000-square-foot home that sits on its own 10 acres, with 26,000 square feet of commercial space that includes a tasting room, bottling facilities and a retail store. The property also has a scattering of guest residences.
The entire wine-making business and inventory are on the block, and the sellers are also including the property of its sister brand, Oreana Winery & Marketplace in Santa Barbara, as part of the deal.
In addition to Oreana’s tasting room located in the trendy Funk Zone, the property includes two adjoining warehouses, a tasting room and market.
The winery, formerly Cellar 205, occupies a historic building at 205 Anacapa St. and can produce up to 10,000 cases annually.
Both wineries are owned by Bel Air-based entrepreneur Barry Goldfarb. According to property records, Goldfarb bought the Oreana Property in 2009 for $1.6 million.
According to a release from Christie’s International Real Estate, which is marketing the property through its Los Angeles affiliate Hilton & Hyland, a separate Agua Dulce tasting room is currently under construction on the Oreana property.
Danny Miles, Oreana’s winemaker and production manager, told the Business Times he was unware of Goldfarb’s intent to sell the property.
Thousand Oaks portfolio sells
Retail Opportunity Investment Corp., a San Diego-based real estate investment trust, became the new owner of three multi-tenant shopping centers on the South Coast in a $109 million transaction.
Included in the deal is the Parks Oaks shopping center in Thousand Oaks. The 110,000-square-foot property, anchored by a Vons grocery store, is located at 1790 N. Moorpark Road.
L.A.-based Decron Properties, the seller of the 370,400-square-foot portfolio, originally bought the Park Oaks property in 2005 for about $43 million.
The records show the property was sold to ROI Corp. for $48.5 million, nearly half of the total portfolio sale price.
According to a release from Savills Studley, the brokers of the deal, the property was not up for sale under a competitive bidding process. However, ROI put in an additional bid.
ROI owns 43 shopping centers in California. The REIT already owned two tri-county retail properties: the 94,000-square-foot Seabridge Marketplace in Oxnard and the nearly 140,000-square-foot Moorpark Town Center in Moorpark.
Deals of the week
• Lassen’s Natural Foods & Vitamins has signed a 15-year lease to open a 14,161-square-foot location at University Square Shopping Center in San Luis Obispo.
Lassen’s has provided local, organic and natural products since 1971 when its first store opened in Camarillo. University Square will be Lassen’s 12th location in California. An opening date has yet to be set.
Rob Devericks with Hagelis Group represented the tenant in the transaction.
• Keith Simon of Lee & Associates negotiated a 10-year lease for a nearly 4,600-square-foot office building.
The building, at 600 Quintana Road in Morro Bay, is located in front of the Cypress Plaza Shopping Center.
The new tenant, San Luis Obispo County Social Services, plans to begin occupying the space sometime in the first quarter of 2015.
