DLC Management is staking out SoCal with a splashy West Coast debut, snapping up a 10-property, grocery-anchored retail portfolio valued at roughly $625 million. Head of leasing Adam Greenberg says retailers are no longer just hunting for the right corner; they are quietly running background checks on who owns the building. For shoppers from San Diego through the Inland Empire, that ownership shift could translate into new tenants, quicker openings, and noticeable changes at some familiar neighborhood centers.
As reported by CoStar News, Greenberg joined DLC about 15 years ago and now oversees the company’s national leasing platform. CoStar also noted that the firm’s West Coast push follows a year when U.S. retail property sales volume climbed about 19% year over year, a jump that helped lure institutional investors toward grocery-anchored centers. Those market dynamics sit squarely behind DLC’s decision to stretch beyond its East Coast roots.
"Retailers absolutely care who their landlord is," Greenberg told CoStar News. He said tenants, especially quick-service restaurants, fitness concepts, and health-and-beauty brands, want owners who can move fast and deliver consistently. That focus on speed and certainty is shaping how DLC tackles lease-ups and renovations across the new portfolio.
Where DLC's West Coast Play Lands
In October 2025, DLC said it partnered with a fund managed by DRA Advisors to acquire the ten-property package and lock in a permanent West Coast presence, according to a company announcement. DLC Management says it now oversees about $3 billion and 21 million square feet across more than 80 centers and will provide leasing, property management, and construction oversight for the new assets. The firm cast the move as an owner-operator strategy aimed at squeezing more value out of the centers through consistent operations.
Which Southern California Centers Are In Play
Local properties in the deal include Clairemont Town Square in San Diego, El Monte Center, Highland Avenue Plaza, Lake Forest’s Hunter Court, Riverside’s Magnolia Tyler Center, and Simi Valley’s Mountaingate Plaza, which DLC bought from Merlone Geier, according to Bisnow. These grocery-anchored centers are exactly the kind of assets institutional buyers have been chasing for reliable shopper traffic and steady rent checks.
Industry operators say grocery-anchored centers are again drawing quick-service restaurants, fitness operators, and health-and-beauty tenants, a trend spotlighted in a Phillips Edison industry release on 2025 leasing patterns. Phillips Edison notes that grocers’ dependable foot traffic gives surrounding small shops a resilient customer base. For local landlords and retailers, DLC’s arrival means more institutional money in the mix, tighter timelines to get stores open, and fresh pressure to prove they can operate at that level for prospective tenants.
