Developer Buys Panorama Mall

Los Angeles shopping center developer Primestor Development, which owns and operates multiple retail properties in the San Fernando Valley, has purchased the Panorama Mall at the busy intersection of Roscoe and Van Nuys boulevards in Panorama City. The nearly 148,000-square-foot property was sold off-market for an undisclosed price by Macerich Co., a publicly traded real estate investment trust based in Santa Monica, according to real estate data provider CoStar Group Inc. The mall draws nearly 7 million visitors annually to the densely populated, heavily Latino neighborhood and is nearly fully leased, with a La Curacao store and a two-story Wal-Mart Stores Inc. outlet as anchors. “Primestor is looking forward to being a part of Panorama City’s improvement efforts and is proud to be the new owners of Panorama Mall. We recognize that this mall serves many functions at the center of the community and that its success is vital in the development and lifestyle of Panorama City and its surrounding neighborhoods. Primestor will ensure and advance its continued importance,” said Arturo Sneider, chief executive of Primestor Development, in a statement. The acquisition comes on the heels of another major transaction in Panorama City, the $12.5 million purchase of the Panorama Tower at 8155 Van Nuys Blvd. by Los Angeles developer Izek Shomof in September. The earthquake-damaged eyesore, which sat vacant for more than two decades, is undergoing renovations in line with a planned makeover by Grand Pacific 7-28 LLC, a Shomof-led partnership. It was not clear whether Sneider intends to revamp the Panorama Mall, which was built in 1955 and last renovated in 1980. But he has long been associated with high-quality, Latino-themed centers, including his current redevelopment of Olivo, formerly the outdated Mission Hills Plaza at the corner of Sepulveda Boulevard and Devonshire Street. In 2010, he opened Plaza Pacoima, a 343,000-square-foot shopping center featuring a Lowe’s, Costco and Best Buy, also in the northeast Valley, and his firm is at work on the 500,000-square-foot Amara regional shopping center in Camarillo.