In the News

Carlsbad, Calif. – September 6th, 2023 – Carlsbad-based Capstone Advisors has sold a pair of shopping plazas for a combined $20.6 million and plans to redeploy the money into additional retail shopping centers.

Capstone sold My Florist Plaza, a 21,756-square-foot-square center in Phoenix, and The Shops at Wellesley, a 42,318-square-foot retail center in Richmond, Va.

“Capstone Advisors has owned these retail centers for 10 years and sold them in alignment with our business plan at acquisition,” Alex Zikakis, president of Capstone Advisors, said in a statement. “While these properties were incredibly stable assets in exceptional communities, we are refocusing our portfolio on owning larger assets, while continuing to acquire additional retail properties that align with our growth plans.” Read the Full Release.

The Island at Carlsbad adds Savory Grill, Allen’s NY Pizza, and The Breakfast Mug to the shopping center roster, increasing offerings for customers. Capstone Advisors, a diversified real estate investment, development and advisory firm, has a 27-year track record of creating strategic retail environments that enhance the customer experience and lead to long-term tenant success.

The restaurant additions will join other shopping center staples, including, J-Box, Croutons, El Cubano, Ocean Day Spa and Studio Barre Carlsbad, among others. Allen’s NY Pizza has recently made its debut, while Savory Grill is anticipated to open its doors in late summer 2023. Additionally, The Breakfast Mug is scheduled to launch in the upcoming months.

During the summer months, The Island at Carlsbad, located at 5814 Van Allen Way, Carlsbad, hosts live music events every Wednesday until Aug. 30 for Carlsbad residents to enjoy. Read full feature.

As the founder and CEO of Capstone Advisors, a diverse real estate investment and development company based in Carlsbad, CA, Alex Zikakis oversees the firm’s investments in commercial properties and residential land acquisitions, land entitlement, commercial property development and operations, asset management and institutional investment strategies. Under Zikakis’ direction, Capstone Advisors has been an equity investor in more than $3 billion of home building and residential development ventures, it has purchased and operated five million square feet of commercial properties, and it has overseen third-party asset management services for millions of square feet of retail, industrial and office properties. 

While everyone was working from home during the pandemic, Zikakis took the opportunity to remodel the company’s corporate offices to create more open spaces where the team could gather once it was safe to return. As the pandemic eased, Zikakis embraced new ideas by obtaining employee feedback for an ideal hybrid schedule and allowed each department to determine its own hybrid schedule. Zikakis’ management style is rooted in his confidence of his team. Leading by example and remaining relatively hands-off, Zikakis aims to let his employees flourish in their own arena with his support, guidance and expertise always within reach. “Alex is a forward-thinker, always seeking to provide tools that allow his team to be both effective and efficient in their work,” says one employee. “He has continuously adapted to change in the real estate market, while remaining true to his character and the values with which he founded Capstone Advisors.” Read full feature.

Northern Nevada Business Weekly – Capstone Advisors first residential project in Northern Nevada is a master-planned community on just over 112 acres in Lemmon Valley. The real estate investment and development company head-quartered at Carlsbad, Calif., purchased the bulk of its land holdings in 2017 and constructed the fully leased 11,000-square-foot SkyVista Village on Vista Knoll Parkway adjacent to Walmart, said Mark Hayden, Vice President of Development for Capstone Advisors.

The ‘Highlands’ master-planned community will extend from where Vista Knoll currently ends and consist of four separate villages, Hayden told NNBW during a recent interview. There will be three single-family residential communities consisting of 219 homes along with a 288-unit multifamily apartment complex. The development also includes a 1.7-acre commercial pad site that faces Lemmon Drive. Read full feature.

A 20-year veteran in accounting and finance, Esther Amano has had a monumental impact on Capstone Advisors where she is controller. She brings strong technical skills and a genuine care for the company’s accounting staff to her job, as well as a focus on treating investors and tenants with care.

During her tenure with a large commercial development firm, her analyses were relied upon by equity partners and lenders. She oversaw a portfolio exceeding 1 million square feet. Her experience spans all facets of commercial real estate including Big 4 CPA firm, private commercial real estate development and commercial loan underwriting. With a dynamic approach, dedicated to high-quality, end-user deliverables, she oversees the firm’s treasury management, financial reporting, investor administration, compliance and lender draws. She was a committee member for Boy Scouts of America, treasurer for the Kensington Preschool Parent Auxiliary and is an accountant for the San Diego Canoe Kayak team. Read full feature.

CARLSBAD – Capstone Advisors, a diversified real estate investment, development and advisory firm headquartered in Carlsbad, announces the entitlement of its newest master plan community, Highlands, located in the northern area of Reno, Nevada. Capstone Advisors will develop the property located near U.S. Route 395 and Sky Vista Parkway for single-family residential, multi-family, and commercial uses, adding much-needed housing and additional retail and commercial uses to this rapidly growing region.  Visit CapstoneAdvisors.com for more information. Read full feature.

“We think about protecting data all the time,” said Alex Zikakis of Capstone Advisors. “I have no problem giving sales info, cap rates, things like that, but data is valuable so we don’t hand over every lease, that is kept confidential.” 

There have been a number of technology companies that have tried to standardize lease forms or use machine learning to extract data from leases but many are met with resistance from property companies that have tailored their leases for their own purposes and don’t want to give away their specific language to competitors.  Read full feature.

The outlook for brick-and-mortar stores is brightening, but headwinds remain.

Author Mark Twain is famously quoted as saying, “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” Similarly, the retail industry continues to defy expectations and stand the test of time, regardless of long-term trends or the short-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation and recessions.

While retail trends shift based on the economic and political environment, investors continue to add shopping centers and malls to their investment portfolios. As a commercial mortgage originator, understanding the current and forecasted retail trends allows for a more profound discernment of which investments will be fruitful and which investments are likely to falter. Read full feature.

Capstone Advisors, led by Alex Zikakis, has endowed a professorship in real estate at the Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate at the University of San Diego. 

“Those of us in the real estate industry have benefitted by having a nationally recognized real estate program in our community and this provides an opportunity to demonstrate our appreciation and commitment to USD and the Burnham-Moores Center,” Zikakis said.

“This endowed professorship will help the USD real estate program retain and attract top faculty to continue to deliver an exceptional education to its students,” said Zikakis, who has been a member of the Burnham-Moores Center Policy Advisory Board since 2005 and is the CEO and president of Capstone Advisors, which is based in Carlsbad. Read full feature.