Section of Vietnam Town plaza lands buyer
SAN JOSE >> A big section of the high-profile Vietnam Town commercial center near downtown San Jose has been bought by a real estate investment group from the Bay Area.
The investors paid $20 million for a building at 939 Story Road, part of a center of shops, restaurants and offices, documents filed on June 22 with the Santa Clara County Recorder's Office show.
San Francisco Diversified Properties, which is affiliated with Northeast Medical Services, bought the building, according to state and county public documents. Northeast Medical Services has principal offices in San Francisco and Daly City.
The buyers purchased the building in an all-cash deal, according to the county public records.
The building is in the northwest section of Vietnam Town, a well-known commercial complex in San Jose's Little Saigon district that's near the corner of McLaughlin Avenue and Story Road. Vietnam Town has addresses ranging from 909 through 999 Story Road.
Vietnam Town Property sold the building to San Francisco Diversified Properties, according to the county records.
The just-bought building totals 44,900 square feet, a listing posted on the LoopNet commercial properties site shows.
The seller originally purchased the entire Vietnam Town site in 2014 in the wake of the bankruptcy of a prior owner of the commercial center and the foreclosure on a loan for the property.
Over the years since Vietnam Town Property bought the entire center, the company has sold scores of small commercial condominium parcels that make up the complex.
The small sites were marketed to merchants who preferred to own rather than lease their business locations. The sites also were marketed to real estate investors who wished to own small properties.
The just-purchased building is one of the largest properties sold in a single transaction in the commercial center. Vietnam Town Property developed the building in 2018. The newly bought property consists of one big anchor building totaling 36,300 square feet and seven small commercial condominium sites.
When Vietnam Town Property bought the complex through the foreclosure proceeding, it paid $3.25 million for the entire 19.6-acre property.
The development of the second phase brought the size of the center to 299,700 square feet, according to the property's website. The complex contains nine buildings, including the just-purchased property. A multi-level parking structure also serves the center.
The recently completed deal comes at a time when Vietnam Town is beginning to recover from the economic maladies and government-ordered business shutdowns inflicted by the coronavirus.
“COVID was a problem for this center,” said Jeff Vo, a broker with GD Commercial who is seeking tenants and buyers for sites in Vietnam Town. “A lot of businesses couldn't operate.”
Lately, however, a rebound appears to be in the offing for Vietnam Town, in Vo's view.
“Business has picked up tremendously compared to a year ago and two years ago,” Vo said.