HAWAIIAN GARDENS, CA-A new Walmart Neighborhood Market will be the anchor tenant of the revamped Hawaiian Gardens Town Center, purchased last year by HP Investors LLC.
Colliers International has been retained as the center's leasing agent. The new Retail Foresight team at Colliers was instrumental in bringing in the Walmart store, the fifth grocery outlet for the retail giant in Los Angeles County. HP Investors said Walmart's decision to locate one of its new grocery stores at the center will help bring the property back to being one of the top neighborhood centers in Hawaiian Gardens.
“Walmart's lease was an off-market transaction that we were able to complete because it made economic sense for everyone involved,” said James Rodriguez, SVP at Colliers International. “Due to the financial meltdown in 2008, the center has had increased vacancies, high tenant turnover and a general deterioration of its physical state. But now, with property improvements planned by HP Investors and the draw of a new Walmart Neighborhood Market, there has been a significant amount of tenant interest.”
Rodriguez, VP Juan Jimenez and associate Michael Bohorquez represented HP in its leasing arrangement with Walmart and in the purchase of the center's buildings and land. Cadence Properties of Denver was the seller.
The 43,000-square-foot Walmart store, anticipated to open next month, fills a space previously occupied by a shuttered Price Rite Market. Other tenants in the center, which is located at the intersection of Norwalk Blvd. and Carson St, include O'Reilly Auto Parts, Rent-a-Center and Jack in the Box.
“Over recent years, vacancy rates within the center consistently ran about 30%, and for a retail center, that cannot be sustained over a long period of time before financial trouble sets in,” said Rodriquez. “Now, with Walmart's Neighborhood Market signing a long-term lease commitment, and a new owner who will be making significant improvements and renovations to the center itself, more shoppers will be inclined to shop there. In turn, that will help replace city tax revenues lost when the recession hit this area.”
The Walmart store will provide groceries as well as an assortment of everyday goods. In addition to the new site in Hawaiian Gardens, Walmart currently operates four other Neighborhood Markets in Downey, Bell Gardens, Altadena and Panorama City. First opened in 1998, there are now more than 250 Walmart Neighborhood Markets nationwide.
As previously reported by GlobeSt.com, the new Retail Foresight team at Colliers plans to focus on the Hispanic market and other retail with ties to ethnic communities.
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