A Minnesota investment company has purchased an Orchard Supply Hardware in Thousand Oaks for about $354 a square foot, a record price for such a property in Ventura County, according to the brokerage that handled the transaction. The 43,000-square-foot home improvement center at 1934 E. Avenida de los Arboles sold for a total of $16.7 million to Oppidan Investment Co. in St. Paul. The seller was a private Los Angeles investment firm. Helping drive the high transaction price is the 5-acre property’s location next to Route 23 freeway and between a pair of popular shopping centers anchored by grocery stores. It also faces little competition from other home improvement chains. “Among the main reasons we were able to achieve this record price level was that this is a single-tenant Orchard Supply Hardware store situated in a supply-constrained market with virtually little to no competition,” said Christopher Maling, a Colliers executive vice president, who handled both sides of the transaction. The price also was among the highest ever paid for a single-tenant standalone retail property in Southern California, Colliers International said. Oppidan counts home improvement chain Lowes Cos. Inc among its long-time clients, making the acquisition a natural, Maling said. The Mooresville, N.C.-based company acquired most OSH stores, including a high number of California locations, after that chain filed for bankruptcy in 2013. The Thousand Oaks store continues to operate. “(The investor) received for its efforts a prized piece of property that is occupied by one of its long-term clients, in an industry it knows will only benefit by the recovering California housing market. This fits neatly into its long-term investment strategy,” Maling said. Maling’s colleagues David Maling and Stephen Algermissen, all based in downtown Los Angeles, also worked on the transaction.
