Much of San Mateo’s Bridgepointe Shopping Center has changed hands, with New York-based investment firm Cohen and Steers purchasing the property last month.
The previous owners, TIAA, a teachers’ pension fund, purchased the shopping center — which includes Total Wine & More, Nordstrom Rack, Ross Dress for Less and Marshalls — in 2018 for $125 million from SPI Holdings.
The most recent sale of the parcels, which excludes Target and Home Depot, was sold for about $127 million.
Last year, San Mateo finalized its housing element, a mandated document outlining how and where it will plan for its state-assigned number of housing units. As a result, the city identified the Bridgepointe Shopping Center parking lot as a potential site for about 383 potential housing units, meaning the area is a step closer to being not only a commercial hot spot but a residential hub as well. The figure is lower than the original housing unit estimate, as the shopping center had yet to fill leasing vacancies during the initial stage of housing element preparation several years ago.
“Under-utilized shopping centers are always a higher opportunity site, so that was where we originally looked,” Community Development Director Zach Dahl said. “There were a higher number of vacancies in 2020 and then over the course of preparation, leases started to get signed.”
Dahl said that the city has not discussed housing plans or developments with Cohen & Steers, though it “looks forward” to working with the owners in the near future.
“We haven’t had any conversations with them related to our housing element,” he said.
According to a Cohen & Steers press release, the acquisition was made through a joint venture with real estate investment firm Sterling Organization, and it is Cohen & Steers’ third acquisition with Sterling Organization and its fourth open-air shopping center acquisition in the portfolio.
The sale also excludes the ice rink, which had created a community uproar about eight years ago when the owner at the time planned to demolish the rink but ultimately retained it after a grassroots effort to save it. Nazareth Ice Oasis currently operates the ice rink.
The city has received $1.9 million in property transfer tax from the sale.
