After more than a year of revitalization, the Turlock Town Center on N. Golden State Boulevard has been sold to an undisclosed California-based developer for $37.45 million.

At the time of the purchase on March 24, the property was fully leased to 32 tenants, including major retail business Smart & Final, Rite Aid, Big 5 Sporting Goods, 99 Cents Only and Goodwill. The center is also home to several locally-owned businesses like Jura’s Pizza Parlor, Valley Meal Prep, Green Grub and Crazy Mangonada.

The sale of the over 144,300 square foot property was arranged by Faris Lee Investments, a national retail advisory and investment sales firm based in Irvine, California. The transaction comes four years after Gary Pinkston, founder of the investment and development corporation Meridian Pacific, purchased the center.

Managing principal Don MacLellan represented Pinkston in the business deal and procured the eventual buyers, who remain unknown at this time.

“The center offers a synergistic mix of strong daily needs tenants including a supermarket, drug store, restaurants, dental office, and personal services… Faris Lee Investments highlighted the intrinsic value of the real estate and the strength of the tenant mix,” MacLellan’s office said in a statement.

The mix of services at the retail center was mostly made possible by Pinkston, who is widely known for acquiring shopping centers and upgrading them with new business and modernizing existing storefronts. Since his purchase in 2018, popular businesses such as Smart & Final, Popeyes, Dutch Bros. Coffee, Insomnia Gym and Jura’s Pizza have moved into the retail center. Meanwhile, existing businesses such as Mundo’s Latin Grill, Rite Aid and Goodwill have moved spaces within the center and have had their storefronts completely renovated.

Pinkston believes the retail center serves as a great opportunity for business in the city of Turlock.

“It is positioned in a prime, prominently visible location at the confluence of highly trafficked streets,” he stated on the Meridian Pacific website.

Pinkston and Meridian Pacific did not respond for comment regarding the recent sale.

The Turlock Town Center is now 36 years old, originally opening in 1986. It was a popular shopping area for several years with the main catalysts for business being Albertsons groceries and Rite Aid. While Rite Aid is still operating in a new space at the center, Albertsons closed 19 years ago as the national chain found it difficult to keep up with stores like Walmart, Target and Safeway. In 2009, the vacant Albertsons building was replaced by 99 Cents Only, which exists in the same space to this day.

The construction and growth of retail spaces around Turlock over the course of the past two decades, such as Monte Vista Crossings and Countryside Plaza, led the remaining businesses housed in the Turlock Town Center to struggle immensely between 2002 and 2017. At one point, 13 of the center’s then 39 spaces were vacant.

Now that the retail center has filled all its spaces and under Pinkston’s ownership there has also been a modernized approach to the promotion of its existing businesses. This includes the creation of an official website (www.turlocktowncenter.com) and the launch of social media accounts on Facebook and Twitter (@TurlockTownCenter).

At the time of the sale, dd’s DISCOUNTS is currently undergoing an outdoor renovation project, which is expected to continue under new ownership.