$43M price check at Vons supermarket in Long Beach

A Vons supermarket on the edge of Downtown Long Beach is up for sale with a listing price that seeks a premium of nearly 50 percent from what it fetched two years ago.

The 47,570-square-foot store at 600 East Broadway has been listed for sale with an asking price of $43.3 million, or $903 per square foot, according to a listing on PropertyShark.

Records show Newport Beach-based private equity firm Fort Ashford Funds bought it for $29 million in 2019 from New York-based Fortress Investment Group. Fort Ashford Funds did not respond to a request for comment.

Constructed in 2010, the retail building includes 127 rooftop parking spaces.

It is leased to Vons — a subsidiary of Albertsons — for another 16 years, with eight additional five-year extension options, according to SRS Real Estate Partners’ Pat Weibel, who is marketing the property for sale.

Rent at the property is currently $1.5 million per year — around $2.62 per square foot per month, according to marketing materials for the building. Starting this month, rent at the property increased by 1.5 percent and will increase by 7.5 percent every five years.

Weibel says the property is gaining interest from private family offices, REITs and foreign buyers interested in Los Angeles County.

The property will give the owner an established retail location “within a dense, infill trade area,” according to SRS Real Estate Partners’ listing.

Grocery stores have become a popular asset class during the pandemic — though foot traffic declined, the sector weathered better than other retailers, mostly because grocers were exempt from many pandemic-related closures and restrictions.

Grocers have also been able to use stores as distribution hubs for their delivery services, according to Weibel.

In September, a 30,000-square-foot building leased to Amazon Fresh on the the west side of Long Beach sold for $35 million — around $1,166 a foot.