Realty Mogul Crowdfunds Major Vons-Anchored Shopping Center

LOS ANGELES, May 19, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Realty Mogul announced today that it has crowdfunded the Barstow Shopping Center, a 110,100 square foot Vons-anchored retail shopping center located in Barstow, Calif.  "With the completion of this offering, the company has enabled individual investors to participate in another significant investment property opportunity in California," said Jilliene Helman, Realty Mogul's CEO.  "Many of our investors, both inside and outside the state, are highly interested in investing in California commercial real estate." 

The project sponsors, led by U.S. Realty Partners and Compass Acquisition Partners, intend to acquire, reposition and lease up the shopping center before reselling it.  The center, anchored by Vons Supermarket, a wholly owned subsidiary of Safeway, is home to several large national retail tenants, including 99 Cents Only Store, Big 5 Sporting Goods, Radio Shack and Allstate Insurance.

"Barstow's steady employment growth and important role as a major Southern California transportation corridor made the center a very attractive property to us," said Jay Kerner, CEO of U.S. Realty Partners.

The purchase price of the center was $8 million.  Realty Mogul raised and funded $760,000 through the company's online marketplace at www.RealtyMogul.com.

U.S. Realty Partners and Compass are overseeing all aspects of the investment, including acquiring and operating the property, completing a strategic repositioning and lease-up program, and ultimately selling the asset.  They intend to complete a minor facade upgrade to the existing tenant spaces to modernize the center.  They will secure tenants for vacant space with a dedicated local leasing agent and focused property management team.

"Equity crowdfunding this type of real estate investment — a commercial shopping center with several national retail tenants — is at the heart of Realty Mogul's mission of providing accredited investors with access to quality real estate investments that previously might have been unavailable to them," said Helman.  "And working with trusted sponsor partners like U.S Realty Partners and Compass Acquisition Partners enhances our ability to deliver that service to our members."

Helman suggested that Realty Mogul will continue to look at retail shopping properties as well as other sectors of commercial real estate.  "We like commercial real estate asset classes such as retail shopping centers and self-storage facilities," she said.  "But, ultimately, as long as a potential investment has strong cash flow characteristics, we're interested in almost any property type.  Our goal is to provide enough inventory to our investors so that they can self-select their portfolio and diversify across various market segments within the world of real estate investing."

About Realty Mogul

Realty Mogul is crowdfunding for real estate, a marketplace for investors to pool money online and invest in real property such as office buildings, apartment buildings and retail centers.  Based on the total number of properties, number of states and volume of capital placed by the company, Realty Mogul believes it is the largest commercial real estate crowdfunding marketplace online.  Realty Mogul provides individuals with tools to browse investments, conduct due diligence, invest online and track the performance of their investments 24/7 through an online investor dashboard.

Realty Mogul partners with real estate owners and operators to source investments for investors.  Realty Mogul provides these companies, known as sponsors, with access to a broader capital pool, as well as tools for investor reporting, communication and distributions.  For more information on how to become a real estate investor through the Realty Mogul marketplace, please visit www.RealtyMogul.com.

SOURCE Realty Mogul