Site of the old Mervyn's store at Santa Rosa Plaza. August 27, 2012.

Former Santa Rosa Mervyn's store sold at auction

The former Mervyn's building at the Santa Rosa Plaza was taken back by its lender along with 17 related California properties at a foreclosure auction Thursday in Martinez.

The two-story building, partly filled with a Forever 21 store, now belongs to a Baltimore-based limited liability company, 2005-C4 DMM Portfolio Properties. The foreclosure isn't expected to have an immediate impact on the Forever 21 store.

At the auction, no one offered the opening bid of $79 million, said Geoffrey Neal, a trustee sale officer with Tustin-based Assured Lenders Services.

The property had been owned by a joint venture of DDR of Beachwood, Ohio, and Australian-based Macquarie DDR Trust. Together they acquired 36 Meryvn's sites in 2005 for $396 million.

Joe Tichar, a DDR vice president, said this week the company gave the 18 properties back to the lender around 2010 and since then has had "zero association" with the properties. But Neal said ownership won't legally transfer until a trustees deed is formally recorded after the auction.

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