Sterling Organization, a Palm Beach, Fla.-based private equity group, has purchased Margarita Plaza, a 77,000-square-foot shopping center located at 6900-7100 S. Santa Fe Ave. in Huntington Park, for $23.8 million, or $309 per square foot, in an off-market transaction with Rubenstein Capital, an Oakland-based real estate investment company.

The property was built in 1989 and is anchored by the tenant Food 4 Less Holdings Inc. grocery store. Little Caesars Enterprises Inc. and tax preparation company Jackson Hewitt Inc. are other tenants.

In a statement, Brian Kosoy, managing principal, president and chief executive officer of Sterling Organization credited Jonathan Mendis, the company’s senior vice president of investments for the western U.S., “for his diligent and long-term pursuit of this off-market opportunity.”

Sterling Organization – which has no ties to real estate investor and former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling – owns approximately 10 million square feet of retail and other commercial space nationwide.

Earlier this year, the company purchased 456 N. Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, a two-story, 6,200-square-foot retail property, for $55 million – and then sold it one day later to LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton Inc. for $110 million.

Real estate reporter Ciaran McEvoy can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 556-8337.