NY-based Zurich Alternative Asset Management (ZAAM) has acquired The Marketplace at Windingwalk, a 104k SF neighborhood retail center anchored by Vons grocery, in the Eastlake submarket in San Diego County, for $51M.

The property was 96% occupied at the time of sale. Tenants include In-N-Out Burger, Wells Fargo and Bank of America, as well as a strategic mix of regional and local retailers, restaurants and services.

Built in 2008 on a 9.3-acre parcel of land at 1754–2160 Eastlake Pkwy in Chula Vista, this institutional-quality retail center was designed to cater to the rapidly growing master planned community of Eastlake. “The Marketplace at Windingwalk represented an excellent opportunity to acquire a best-in-class neighborhood center located in a premier San Diego County neighborhood experiencing explosive growth,” NGKF Capital Markets executive managing director Pete Bethea says. “This center’s location, architecture, tenant lineup and tenant performance are unique in today’s investment climate and are ideal for today’s core investor.”

Based in the La Jolla office, Pete, along with NGKF managing directors Rob Ippolito and Glenn Rudy, repped the seller, Aliso Viejo, CA-based Shea Properties. The buyer repped itself. ZAAM is an alternative investment adviser to Zurich North America, which is responsible for the group’s hedge fund, private equity and US real estate investments. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Zurich Insurance Group, the parent of which is a publicly traded firm that is one of the world’s largest insurance companies with roughly $200B in investments.