Divaris Real Estate Solutions for San Souci Plaza

photo of San Souci Plaza in California, MD

San Souci Plaza, California, Maryland
a 246,788-square-foot shopping center is anchored by Shopper’s Food Warehouse, Fashion Bug and JoAnn Fabrics was reroofed and relandscaped by Divaris Property Management Corp..

San Souci Plaza: An Opportunity to Reposition Retail

HISTORY

Owner Mark Reinisch of Chicago-based Rushmore Properties bought San Souci Plaza because of the opportunity for repositioning that it represented.

Divaris Real Estate’s Rockville office is responsible for the leasing and management at the San Souci Plaza, a 246,788-square-foot shopping center located at the intersection of Maryland Route 235 and MacArthur Boulevard in California, Maryland.

San Souci Plaza is well-positioned in a hot market area. It is situated at the intersection of Route 235 and MacArthur Boulevard in California, Maryland. There are 125,000 people residing within the trade area and the traffic count at the site is 49,000 cars per day. It is in the St. Mary’s retail corridor, one quarter mile from the Naval Air Station that draws 300,000 visitors annually. The population growth in St. Mary’s County is 13 percent and in nearby Calvert County there has been an astounding 45 percent population growth.

SCOPE OF ASSIGNMENT

Divaris took on the leasing and management for the center. DPMC is providing a full range of property management services, including overseeing the physical facilities, tenant relations, accounting and rent collection for the property.

If a property is not well-maintained physically and properly operated, it can have a negative impact on the property’s ability to attract customers and therefore, tenants.

The process that Divaris goes through to establish a management plan for a new portfolio begins with a thorough assessment of each property. Significant facility and operations problems are identified. This leads to recommendations and ultimately to the implementation of solutions.

RESULTS

Since receiving the assignment to lease and manage San Souci, Divaris has already completed re-roofing and re-landscaping the property.

When DPMC acquired the assignment, the vacancy at San Souci Plaza was 20 percent. By summer 2004, the vacancy was down to less than 5 percent.

DRE has since leased 27,000 square feet in the center to tenants such as Hot Noodle, Coffee Quarter, JC Spirits & Wine and a new laundromat. They’ve also expanded S.M. City Motorsports and Rick Jewelers. Maximum Health and Fitness for 15,612 square feet. Other tenants in the center include Shoppers Food Warehouse, JoAnn Fabrics and Fashion Bug.

Shopper’s Food Warehouse was very cooperative by working to eliminate a number of restrictive covenants to their lease that allowed several very exciting new tenants to be added to San Souci Plaza.

The main marketing focus was on retailers that were not represented in the area. The successful leases were completed with the kinds of retailers that were under-represented in the market.

Divaris presents the advantages inherent in a large, diversified company. Also, Divaris has experience and knowledge of the area, and give the property its due attention.

Clients are looking for an active, ‘hands on’ approach, and DPMC is able to provide the quality of service that an owner is entitled to expect.

In management, the key to keeping a property well positioned in the market and to ensuring that it achieves its best value, is to understand the owner’s goals and objectives and the project’s intended customers.

One of the biggest challenges is managing underutilized projects that have great potential. CEO Gerald Divaris is one of the best visionaries in the industry, and it is the company's foremost task to consider the future positionings of a project to maximize its capital value.

When properties are traded by institutional owners to smaller property owners and individuals, often these new owners want to self-manage. In so doing, the owners often lose the economies of scale, long-term experience and depth of resources that a professional property management company can provide.

Divaris’ property management department has a history of over 35 years in the business with strong skills and resources to back up its managers. Managers are more than just the eyes and ears of an owner -- the goal is to get the property to its maximum potential. Responsiveness is the watchword for all aspects of management.