Target-anchored S.F. shopping center sells for $155 million

The 120,000-square-foot CityTarget on Geary filled a huge hole in the shopping center that was vacant for years.

City Center at Geary Boulevard, a shopping center that includes big-box tenants like Best Buy and City Target on the corner of Geary Boulevard and Masonic Avenue, has sold for $155 million.

According to real estate database Real Capital Analytics, the shopping center at 2675 Geary Boulevard was sold by Philadelphia-based Lubert-Adler and bought by New York firm Acadia Realty for $799 per square foot.

The shopping center marks the public company’s first entry into the San Francisco market.

“We always look for sites that are infill and difficult to compete with, and this is that kind of property,” said Joel Braun, Acadia’s chief investment officer. “It’s not going to see a lot of new competition, as it’s an infill site surrounded by a lot of people.”

At roughly 200,000 square feet, the shopping center is a unique site for San Francisco, which doesn’t have a lot of room for big-box stores. The center had been left empty for years after Mervyns filed Chapter 11 and closed at the end of 2008, but the opening of CityTarget in 2013 helped revive the center, which also houses a Best Buy, Chipotle, GNC and now an Ulta beauty supply store.

Shopping centers anchored by high-value chains like Target, Home Depot or Costco are among the most successful right now, retail experts say.

According two recent reports, vacancy rates at these shopping centers — known as “power centers” — are at an all-time low and are projected to remain so at least for the next year.

Acadia’s Alex Janoff is leading the firm’s search in acquiring more San Francisco properties, including areas north and south of the city.

San Francisco fits “comfortably” with the firm’s New York assets and its other major urban projects, Braun said. The company has already acquired sites in Boston, Miami, Washington, D.C., and other major metropolitan areas.