Walmart Sells Portland Property for $20M

A former Walmart is set to become a grocery store after the big-box retailer sold a location in Portland to a group of investors.

Portland International Center — a partnership of Hoang Nguyen, Brandon Wang and the Huot Family Revocable Trust — purchased the 154,000-square-foot property at 4200 S.E. 82nd Avenue for $20 million, the Portland Business Journal reported. The deal came together almost a year after Walmart closed its location there.

The deal works out to approximately $130 per square foot. Local real estate firm Ethos Commercial Advisors claimed to source a five-year, $15 million acquisition loan covering roughly three-quarters of the property.

The investors plan to transform the former Walmart at Eastport Plaza into a Hong Phat Supercenter, a regional grocery store chain. The location would mark the chain’s fourth in the Portland market.

The store won’t occupy the entire property, leaving about 30,000 square feet to other potential tenants. The Hong Phat will be at least 120,000 square feet, though, representing the company’s largest location. The supermarket could open as soon as this summer, though Nguyen conservatively estimates 2025 as a more likely launching point.

The transaction started coming together last year when Nguyen learned of the Walmart’s closing in the newspaper. He contacted someone from Walmart, who kicked the gears into motion. Walmart appeared eager to sell the property to local investors with a plan and there were no major complications with the deal, other than the lengthier timeline dictated by Walmart’s large corporate size.

Walmart has closed several stores in the past couple of years, recently announcing that two stores will be closing in the coming weeks in San Diego, Business Insider reported. As of last October, the company boasted at least 4,600 stores in the United States, but closed at least 22 due to financial performance last year, including several in Chicago.
— Holden Walter-Warner