WALNUT CREEK — A real estate titan has added a choice slice to the footprint of a high-profile shopping mall in the East Bay, an indication that retail centers remain viable despite coronavirus-linked economic jolts.
A slender property on the boundary of Broadway Plaza, a top-notch open-air shopping center in downtown Walnut Creek, has been bought by an affiliate of Macerich, according to documents filed on Oct. 4 with the Contra Costa County Recorder’s Office.
The Macerich affiliate paid just a bit less than $10 million — $9.95 million — for the triangle-shaped retail site, the county documents show.
The site occupies a prominent perch next to downtown Walnut Creek’s Broadway Plaza retail and restaurant complex.
The property contains a retail building totaling 2,500 square feet, stated a marketing brochure offering the property for sale circulated by John Cumbelich & Associates, a commercial real estate firm.
The just bought-bought building is next to the site of a former Neiman Marcus store at the corner of Mt. Diablo Boulevard and Main Street in downtown Walnut Creek.
Neiman Marcus, a famed luxury retailer that toppled into bankruptcy in May 2020 during the height of coronavirus-linked economic woes, closed its Walnut Creek store in January 2021. The shutdown was permanent. Texas-based Neiman Marcus emerged from bankruptcy in September 2020.
The purchase of the retail site at one of the gateways to Broadway Plaza suggests that Macerich retains plenty of confidence in the prospects for the retail center despite ongoing uncertainties for retailers in the wake of the coronavirus.
This news organization requested a comment from Macerich about its assessment of, and plans for, the site it bought.
The marketing brochure touted the just-purchased building as a site that commands an ideal downtown Walnut Creek location.
Numerous high-profile retailers and restaurants are located near the property that Macerich bought. Among them: Nordstrom, RH (Restoration Hardware), Crate & Barrell, Apple Store, Pottery Barn, Williams-Sonoma and P. F. Chang’s China Bistro.
“The subject property provides an extremely rare opportunity to secure a premier location and freestanding identity, all on the highest traffic count corridor in the downtown,” the Cumbelich & Associates brochure stated.
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