H Mart Buys Shopping Center in San Francisco

Korean grocery chain H Mart has acquired Oceanview Village Shopping Center in San Francisco for more than $37 million.

H Mart is now the owner of the shopping center where its San Francisco store is located. The Korean-American supermarket chain has bought Oceanview Village Shopping Center on Alemany Boulevard for a little more than $37 million, according to public records. 

As reported by The Real Deal, H Mart opened its San Francisco location in the Ingleside neighborhood in the southwestern corner of the city in 2021 and is in the midst of planning an expansion into the former 24-Hour Fitness space next door. That would bring H Mart’s presence in the nearly 100,000-square-foot shopping center up to almost 70,000 square feet, including 57 reserved parking spots.

Even with its expansion plans, it’s possible that H Mart isn’t planning on a long-term hold, according to retail agent Cameron Baird, of Avison Young. 

“It’s not uncommon for tenants to purchase properties at a discount and write favorable leases for themselves and then sell the property as a net leased investment vehicle in the retail market,” he said.

The 2002-era shopping center has been owned by Denver-based Broe Real Estate Group since 2016. At the time Broe purchased the property for $30.6 million, the existing tenants included Albertsons, Walgreens, 24-Hour Fitness and Chase Bank. Of those, only Chase still remains, with H Mart subleasing the Albertsons space. The shopping center also features 370 condos above the ground-floor retail, which is not part of the H Mart sale.

Meanwhile, H Mart is preparing to open a new store outside of San Francisco in Dublin, Calif. 

Based in Lyndhurst, N.J., H Mart operates in 14 states. It has plans to enter its 15th state with a location in West Jordan, Utah, later this year. The company is No. 83 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2024 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.