WENATCHEE — Shoppers here won’t notice much of a change, but the home of Target, Old Navy and J.C. Penney has new owners.

A San Diego-based group of investors announced this month it had bought Valley North Center — the 20-acre shopping center with 270,000 square feet of retail space — for nearly $17 million. The deal closed in mid-December.

Center Investments, Inc., an East Wenatchee commercial real estate firm, will manage the property, oversee maintenance, handle leasing and seek new businesses for the 46-year-old commercial hub that hugs the city’s busiest intersection.

“This is a very stable property with happy, longtime tenants,” said Dan Barr, lead broker for Center Investments. “These new investors recognize the center as a good property to add to their portfolio.”

The new owner, Valley North Center LLC, purchased the property and buildings that house Target, J.C. Penney, Old Navy, Rite-Aid, Pier 1 Imports, and about a dozen other retailers. Red Robin and Applebee’s restaurants are also in the mix.

According to Barr, Valley North Center is 100 percent leased and 99 percent occupied.

The purchase does not include properties for Albertson’s grocery, Starbucks, the Verizon phone store or Shopko. Those adjacent parcels are separate from Valley North and owned by other companies.

Valley North Shopping Center opened in 1966 with 165,000 square feet of retail space at a cost of $3 million. In 1999, longtime owner First Union sold the center to Center Oak Properties, a California company that at the time also owned the Wenatchee Valley Mall in East Wenatchee. About a year later, Center Oak rebuilt Valley North to eliminate its struggling enclosed mall and replaced it with a “big-box” design.

Barr said the new owners haven’t announced any big plans for the center, but the search for new tenants is ongoing. “We’re always trying to broaden the retail and restaurant mix,” he said. “Who knows? There could be some surprises in the future.”

Mike Irwin: 665-1179

irwin@wenatcheeworld.com