Two Orange County companies struck a deal to exchange a parcel at the Santa Margarita Marketplace for $9.4 million.
The deal was completed in mid-August but was only recently reported by CoStar.
The Santa Margarita Marketplace property, located at 30501-30505 Avenida de las Flores in Rancho Santa Margarita, was bought by Santa Ana-based Red Mountain Group Inc., a national developer. The retail center serves the Rancho Santa Margarita and Coto de Caza areas.
Corona del Mar-based Dan Goode RSM LP was the seller. The retail center sold for $181 per square foot.
EōS Fitness is a major tenant, leasing one of the building’s largest spaces that was previously occupied by Big Lots.
“The buyer was drawn to the property as it was a value-add opportunity,” according to CoStar’s notes about the sale.
Other tenants of the 51,972-square-foot retail property include LensCrafters, Phenix Salon Suites and O’Reilly Auto Parts, according to CoStar.
Red Mountain Group
The Santa Ana-based Red Mountain Group was founded in 1991 and specializes in the development and investment of retail and mixed-use properties across the country.
Red Mountain Group’s first property was a distressed shopping center in Mesa, Arizona. The company now has properties in 25 states, including El Toro Square in Lake Forest, Homeplace Shopping Center in Santa Ana and Buena Park Marketplace in Buena Park.
The company sold Algonquin Commons, a 600,000-square-foot shopping center in Illinois, a few weeks after closing its deal for Santa Margarita Marketplace.
Red Mountain Group is led by CEO and founder Michael H. Mugel and President Carl Roude.
Orange County’s Retail Market
A Marcus & Millichap report on Orange County’s retail market for the third quarter of 2025 shows a mixed bag of results.
Only four major retail markets across the country—including Orange County—posted a year-over-year decline in vacancies in June.
But that data was countered with more retail tenants vacating space than leasing it for the fourth time in six quarters. Marcus & Millichap predicts this trend will continue through the end of 2025.
The biggest news in Orange County’s retail space is the recent closures last month of three At Home stores in Costa Mesa, Foothill Ranch and Tustin, with each location carrying a footprint of about 100,000 square feet. The furniture and decor chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June.
“The closures will test local vacancy while pushing the metro’s overall metric to its highest level in a decade outside of the pandemic,” according to Marcus & Millichap.
“Slowing population and job growth could further temper retailer demand, though the metro’s highest median household income in Southern California helps keep vacancy here the lowest in the state.”
Retail centers at 20,000 square feet and smaller, however, have been performing well, according to Marcus & Millichap. Vacancies at these small centers were at 3.6% in June, the real estate advisory firm reported.
“Restaurants and fitness chains have been especially active in this size range, reflecting healthy demand from tenants aligned with the county’s affluent consumer base.
This has been most evident in coastal submarkets, where higher household incomes support retail spending,” according to the Marcus & Millichap report.
