In a local top-dollar retail sale since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the Long Beach Exchange has sold for nearly $160M.

The sale marks a win for Orange County-based real estate developer and investor Burnham Ward Properties, which opened the Long Beach retail complex with partner Rockwood Capital in 2018, according to the Orange County Business Journal. The airport-adjacent project cost about $100M to develop, the Journal reported.

A partnership between PGIM Real Estate and DJM bought the property, DJM confirmed. The 266K SF project sold for about $600 per SF, a per-SF price that is among the priciest on record for retail transactions in Los Angeles and Orange County, according to the Journal.

The Long Beach Exchange is anchored by Whole Foods and features restaurants, retailers, a food hall and 2 acres of open space, according to its website.

PGIM, a real estate management affiliate of Prudential Financial Inc., has made some notable industrial and office deals over the last two years, buying a 40% stake in a multi-building portfolio that included several industrial buildings in Santa Fe Springs for $120M. It also sold a Miracle Mile office tower it owned with Ratkovich Co. and AXA Capital for more than $300M. DJM owns the Hollywood & Highland retail and entertainment complex and the Lido Marina Village in Newport Beach.

PGIM and DJM also partnered on Huntington Beach's Bella Terra, where the pair are planning to add 300 apartments to the existing retail and residential mix.

DJM said in a statement that it would oversee management, leasing, marketing and placemaking at the Long Beach Exchange.

Newport Beach-based Burnham Ward has developed a number of retail projects in Orange County, including OC Mix and SOCO in Costa Mesa, and has plans in the works to build a 200K SF mixed-use center in Laguna Niguel next to the city hall. Burnham Ward also bought and overhauled a Mission Viejo site that is slated to be home to South Orange County’s first Amazon Fresh grocery store.

In one of its more high-profile OC projects, Burnham Ward is one of three companies tapped to revamp the Dana Point Harbor in a $330M overhaul that will update the marina and add new stores, restaurants and hotels.

UPDATE, JAN. 4, 11:15 A.M. PT: On Jan. 4, DJM announced it was part owner of the Long Beach Exchange along with PGIM. This story has been updated.