Vietnamese market, investor look to invigorate San Jose mall

A shopping mall in East San Jose has picked up a new investor while landing a Vietnamese indoor market to fill the vacancy of a shuttered Sears.

The Eastridge Center, owned by Pacific Retail Capital Partners, landed a financial partner for the 51-year-old mall at 2200 Eastridge Loop, the Silicon Valley Business Journal reported.

Silver Eagle Capital Partners, based in Las Vegas, has invested an undisclosed sum to extend the maturity of Pacific Retail Capital’s loan on the fourth largest retail center in Silicon Valley.

At the same time, an investor has bought the former Sears department store at 2180 Eastridge Loop, and plans to open a Hello Ben Thanh Indoor Market and Food Hall, according to SiliconValley.com.

An affiliate led by Do Van Tron, a San Jose-based business and real estate executive, paid $24.8 million for the 260,100-square-foot site linked to the Eastridge mall.

The Vietnamese market would contain food courts, a banquet hall, an entertainment center, a children’s play center, free weekend entertainment and concerts broadcast on social media.

Nearly half the space would be devoted to merchandise. As many as 50 food booths would serve up traditional foods of Vietnam, China, Korea, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines.

“This is going to be very successful,” David Taxin, a partner with Meacham/Oppenheimer, a commercial real estate firm, told the Bay Area News Group. “This location is in an area that is a major center for the Vietnamese community.”

A bustling two-story market modeled on the century-old indoor markets in Vietnam could breathe new life into the adjacent mall.

Pacific Retail Capital, based in El Segundo, paid more than $200 million for the Eastridge mall in 2016, which lost its Sears and Barnes & Noble anchors.

New financing from Silver Eagle Capital will help the revitalization of the shopping center, said Steve Plenge, managing principal for Pacific Retail Capital, while leading to “potential longer-term density” opportunities on the site.

A new light rail line extension planned along Capitol Expressway to the mall may bring more traffic to the property. Santa Clara County is also working to shut down and redevelop the Reid-Hillview Airport next door.

— Dana Bartholomew

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