CENTER GETTING NEW LOOK.

Byline: Gregory J. Wilcox Staff Writer

NORTHRIDGE - An Irvine real estate company has bought the Northridge Market Place for $8 million and will give the 92,000-square-foot facility an upscale image.

CIP Real Estate plans to spend $2 million on the makeover and reposition the neighborhood center as a primarily service and office destination, although there will be some retail stores.

The center, in the 19500 block of Nordhoff Street just south of Northridge Fashion Square, will also be renamed the Northridge Promenade.

Current tenants include Coldwell Banker Real Estate, Aveda Salon, Primerica, Beneficial Finance and the restaurants Tango de Amore, LA Buffet, Good Earth and Punjab Palace.

There are 24 units on the property, and they range in size from 720 square feet to 14,000 square feet.

CIP bought the center from an affiliate of a Hong Kong-based company as part of its strategy to reposition underperforming properties in increase their value.

The center was built in 1984 and is getting new landscaping, sidewalks, common areas improvements, a new facade and stucco.

The improvements should be completed sometime during next year's first quarter.

This will help the center better compete in the Northridge market, said Eric Smyth, a principal at the Orange County company.

``The Northridge acquisition is a good example of a true value-added investment opportunity, which is difficult to find today in the West San Fernando Valley, he said.

CIP has been looking in the Valley for a while and wants to buy more property in the area.

``It's a real mature market, which we like. And we like the demographics of the West Valley very much. The housing prices and per capita income are all excellent,'' he said.

This acquisition is part of 310,000 square feet of office and commercial property bought in the last few months by CIP. It's the company's first foray into the San Fernando Valley.

Wayne Adelstein, president and chief executive officer at the Northridge/Porter Ranch Chamber of Commerce, said that this kind of investment is good news for the community.

``Any improvement in the area is desirable,'' he said. ``I think that it's great that the owners are investing in the property.''

Adelstein has recently met with several merchants at the Market Place, and they are concerned that it is hard for customers to find them since that are three streets in the area with Nordhoff in the name.

Now he's looking into the possibility of getting a new name for that stretch of street.

``It certainly is terrific to see capital improvements going into an area but sometimes you need more than that to make it work out,'' Adelstein said.

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Northridge Market Place