WILMETTE – The historic Wilmette shopping center Plaza del Lago has been sold to Retail Properties of America, an Oak Brook-based investment firm.
It will be the first time Plaza del Lago has changed hands in well over 40 years. The Spanish-style shopping center built in the late 1920s was owned and managed by the Moss family since 1971. Joseph Moss, the family patriarch who recently died in March 2017, was a Chicago real estate investor who specialized in condo conversions. Plaza del Lago was first put on the market in July.
Retail Properties of America (“RPAI”) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust, known in the industry as a REIT. According to the company’s website, RPAI is a “self-managed REIT focused on acquisition, development and management of strategically located retail assets.”
RPAI owns properties all over the country, the majority of which are located in Texas. In addition to Plaza del Lago, RPAI owns six other properties in Illinois, including a Jewel/Osco shopping center in Chicago, Gurnee Town Center in Gurnee and Oak Brook Promenade in Oak Brook.
The Plaza was sold for $48.3 million, or $482 per square foot, according to an article published in Crain’s Chicago Business.
Plaza del Lago in Wilmette. Photo from its Facebook page.