SimonCRE has expanded its Pacific Northwest footprint with the acquisition of Island Plaza, a 92,112-square-foot shopping center on Whidbey Island in Oak Harbor. The Scottsdale, Arizona-based investor acquired the multi-tenant retail asset with a stated focus on redevelopment.
As part of its repositioning strategy, SimonCRE has executed a 23,666-square-foot lease with a national soft goods retailer for Island Plaza’s largest available space. The commitment backfills a significant portion of the center and reflects early leasing traction following the acquisition.
Vacancy at Island Plaza currently includes approximately 5,600 square feet of unleased shop space, together with a half-acre development pad. According to reporting from the Puget Sound Business Journal, the underlying 4.35-acre site carries an assessed value of $4.8 million, providing a reference point for the local tax valuation of the property.
The shopping center is organized as two multi-tenant buildings plus an additional 0.50-acre pad site. Existing tenants at Island Plaza include Haggen, Jersey Mike’s Subs and Maurices, among others, providing a mix of grocery and soft goods retail alongside food-and-beverage offerings.
The seller in the transaction is the Carl Freund Trust, which has held the property since 1980. The long-term ownership history underscores the asset’s established position in the Oak Harbor retail corridor and sets the stage for SimonCRE’s planned redevelopment initiatives.
Beyond Island Plaza, SimonCRE is pursuing additional activity in the region. The company is redeveloping a property in Spanaway into a grocery-anchored retail center. In 2024, SimonCRE acquired the 89,000-square-foot Spanaway Plaza from Goodwill Industries of Tacoma for $10 million as part of that effort.
With the Island Plaza acquisition and active projects such as the Spanaway redevelopment, SimonCRE is building scale in the Pacific Northwest retail market, focusing on repositioning and re-tenanting existing shopping centers.
