Terry Tallen, CEO of Tallen Capital Partners of Mill Valley. Courtesy photo

CITRUS HEIGHTS, CA (MPG) – The purchase of Sunrise Mall from Namdar Realty Group of Long Island, N.Y., by Tallen Capital Partners of Mill Valley is expected to be finalized in 2027, according to CEO Terry Tallen in a telephone interview last week.

His firm is in escrow to purchase about 50 acres of Sunrise Mall which is owned by the Namdar Realty Group, with plans to then sell about 14 acres to the Mettle Shop for construction of the Sunrise Sports Complex which will be built facing Greenback Lane.

Namdar currently owns the 25-acre parcel where the core Sunrise Mall building stands and two 12-acre parcels home to Goodyear Tires, and the buildings which formerly housed Macy’s Men’s and Macy’s Women’s.

The Sunrise Mall property spans nearly 100 acres in Citrus Heights and is currently divided into seven separate parcels owned by five different entities.

Once the sale is complete, Tallen Capital Partners, LLC will assume the role of majority owner and developer for the Sunrise Mall project.

“It’s very early in the process to say how quickly that transaction with Namdar Realty Group will close, given all the details which are involved,” Tallen said.

Tallen said he is especially excited about the project, pointing to productive talks with Citrus Heights city officials since its public announcement, the infrastructure requirements and how construction will unfold once demolition begins.

Tallen is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Tallen Capital Partners and its related subsidiary companies. He leads the company’s multi-disciplinary approach in the acquisition, financing, entitlement and redevelopment of value-add retail, multifamily and mixed-use real estate projects such as Sunrise Mall

“Our firm has redeveloped other substantial mall and retail properties, but Sunrise Mall is very different in its scope,” Tallen said. “We fully share the city’s vision for what it wants to see in its Sunrise Tomorrow plan.”

Tallen Capital Partners, LLC is partnering with the Mettle Shop to build a state-of-the-art, 160,000-square-foot sports facility on an 11-acre anchor site. At its core is a 4,000-seat multi-use arena designed to host sporting events, concerts and more.

The center will feature two NHL-sized ice sheets and multi-use turf fields, establishing a premier destination for athletes, families and visitors, and offering a wide range of recreational and entertainment opportunities.

“It’s going to be a considerable regional draw for the city of Citrus Heights and for the region” Tallen said. “(Redevelopment of Sunrise Mall) creates its own momentum, and with it, a demand for higher end retail and good restaurants surround it.”

Tallen said he commuted to recent meetings with Citrus Heights city officials from Roseville since a hotel in close proximately wasn’t readily available.

“There is demand for quality hotel space surrounding the sports complex, and we’ll be working to meet that.”

A 2.8-acre parcel at the prominent corner of Sunrise Boulevard and Greenback Lane, owned by Antioch Street LP, has been subdivided to allow for a future hotel.

Tallen said he was pleased to learn that the city of Citrus Heights has already completed an environmental impact report (EIR) for Sunrise Mall and has obtained California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) approval for the redevelopment of Sunrise Mall.

“That’s a very decisive action on the part of the city,” he said.

The Citrus Heights City Council has recently unanimously approved a professional services agreement for the Sunrise Tomorrow Frontage Project with Mark Thomas and Company, a professional engineering firm, to assist with frontage improvements along Sunrise Boulevard and Greenback Lane for a Sunrise Tomorrow Specific Plan Frontage Improvement Project.

Design elements include a separated multi-use “green loop” path, the installation of a new traffic signal on Sunrise Boulevard and the development of a transit center designed to support both conventional bus service and future bus rapid transit operations.

Those elements are especially important as the redevelopment of Sunrise Mall includes the construction of approximately 250 residential units situated around the planned sports complex.

Tallen said his firm will soon partner with a residential builder/broker to build and market those units. Mixed commercial use, including construction of office space is also visualized for the mall property, he said. So too is the inclusion of a retail grocery store which may serve the new residential community, he said.

Tallen confirmed that both former Macy’s Men’s and Women’s stores would be demolished first, but that’s not likely until 2028, or 2029.

“We also will be talking to those businesses who want to remain in business in the mall well before demolition does begin (in 2028 or later) to give them the opportunity to renegotiate their leases at a fair market value,” he said.

The remaining portions of the Sunrise Mall property are controlled by Ethan Conrad Properties, JCPenney, Red Robin and Antioch Street LP.

Since the sale of the mall from Namdar Realty Group was publicly reported, Tallen said he has spoken to Ethan Conrad, CEO of Ethan Conrad Properties of Sacramento which bought the former Sears site in 2022 and corporate representatives of JCPenney which is the last remaining anchor retail store in Sunrise Mall and also owns 18 acres of the property.

“We’re interested in hearing their plans and ideas,” he said. “It’s a bit early to say more.”

The first steps to market specific parcels of Sunrise Mall have already begun with the publication of a marketing brochure by Retail Pacific, a commercial real estate brokerage in Walnut Creek retained by Tallen Capital Partners to market lease specific parcels along Sunrise Boulevard, he said.

Retail Pacific and Tallen Capital Partners, LLC list between 82,000 to 172,000 square feet of the former combined Macy’s retail stores in Sunrise Mall area available redevelopment.

Two portions of a combined 23.98-acre parcel located at 6063 Sunrise Blvd. facing the MarketPlace at Birdcage, which are currently used for parking space, are available for ground lease.

The planned Sunrise Sports Complex should attract a good mix of retail and better restaurants there, Tallen said.

The former 8,000-square-foot location of the shuttered Elephant Bar Restaurant which faces the MarketPlace at Birdcage is expected to be reutilized rather than demolished, Tallen said.

“We’ve been in talks with Benihana which has expressed a desire to return to Citrus Heights. The popular Japanese restaurant had been a long-time fixture in the Sunrise Village Shopping center in Citrus Heights near the corner of Sunrise Boulevard and Madison Avenue before closing when the center was remodeled.”