Take a Class-A strip center in an affluent San Diego suburb. Add a Starbucks, and voila! You have a sub-6% cap investment. But as one top retail investment broker tells Bisnow, Starbucks isn't necessarily the key ingredient for low caps.

Faris Lee's Nick Coo says Starbucks is a high-quality brand to bring into any retail center, but that the coffee shop doesn't play into underwriting that much. Nick just helped sell Breeze Hill Commercial Center, a nearly 18k SF shopping center for a little more than $10M to LA-based Gershman Properties. That translated into a 5.35% cap, healthy by any standards. 

Nick says the real driver for valuation in 2015 is the perfect storm: a lack of supply and a tsunami of capital (both foreign and domestic) whetted from both continued low interest rates and the safety the US provides (having a Starbucks in a center certainly doesn't hurt). Aside from Starbucks, Breeze Hill at Hacienda and Melrose drives (here) also is home to FedEx, Jersey Mike’s and Rubio’s, as well as other regional tenants. The center is walking distance from the San Diego Superior Courthouse, which helps feed the customer base.