Firm Led by Chris Jiashu Xu Pays $135M for San Jose Mall

UPDATED, Jan. 26, 2024, 4:39 p.m.: A Houston investment firm led by Chris Jiashu Xu has bought most of the 1.2 million-square-foot Eastridge Center mall in East San Jose for $135 million.

An affiliate of the unidentified real estate group, with offices in Texas and New York, bought the mall at 2190 and 2200 Eastridge Loop, plus a parcel at 2010 Tully Road, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

The seller was GS Pacific ER, controlled by Las Vegas-based Silver Eagle Capital Partners and Pacific Retail Capital Partners, based in El Segundo. GS Pacific bought the mall in 2016 for $225 million, then sold seven surrounding properties for $42.7 million.

When stripped of the surplus properties, GS Pacific paid an estimated $177.7 million for the core mall it sold to the Xu-led group, a 21 percent loss. And that doesn’t include a multi-million-dollar renovation in 2018.

The company led by Xu, a native of China whose United Construction and Development is an active developer in Queens, New York, borrowed $98 million at the time of purchase from a Los Angeles branch of the Bank of China.

The affiliate that bought the mall is based at a Houston address that is one of the offices for Xu, the developer active in New York real estate, according to the Mercury News, which didn’t identify the affiliate or the controlling firm.

In August 2022, Eastridge Center’s principal owner announced that it had attracted investor Silver Eagle to shore up its finances and reposition its tenant mix.

At the same time, a San Jose investor bought the former Sears department store at 2180 Eastridge Loop with plans to open a Hello Ben Thanh Indoor Market and Food Hall. An affiliate led by Do Van Tron paid $24.8 million for the 260,100-square-foot site linked to Eastridge.

The two-story Eastridge, which opened in the Evergreen district in 1971, was once the largest indoor mall in the West.

It has seven anchor stores, plus 150 stores and restaurants that draw 13 million visitors a year, according to its website. Tenants include Macy’s, JCPenney, Round1 Bowling & Amusement, an AMC Eastridge 15 movieplex, the Aloha Fun Center and H&M.

In August, a penthouse at Xu’s Skyline Tower, the tallest in Queens, set a local price per square foot record when it closed for $2.3 million, or $2,300 per square foot, according to The Real Deal.

At the same time, Xu filed plans build a 14-story, 213,000-square-foot building in Long Island City at a property he bought for $40 million.

— Dana Bartholomew

This story has been corrected since initial publication to reflect that Pacific Retail did not default on a loan tied to the building.