The Street Seen: What’s in Store for Gelson's ?
2601 - 2645 Lincoln Blvd @ Ocean Park (Sunset Park)
On November 5th, SanMon Inc. put up a small notice of intent to demolish structures on the Gelson’s site (Lincoln Center) on the corner of Lincoln and Ocean Park. At present there is no public information about the owner’s intentions.
SanMon is the Balboa Retail Partners entity that owns the site (Lincoln Center). Balboa Retail Partners, founded in 2011 and headquartered in Brentwood, is the owner and operator of a lot of retail real-estate (81 properties in 21 states). The property was owned by Harold Willens until his death in 2003. Balboa Retail Partners acquired Lincoln Center in 2017. Keep in mind that the owner of the property and the operator of the grocery anchor are two different entities.
The anchor opened as a Shoppers Market when the center was built in 1956. The Shoppers chain was sold to Lucky’s in 1965. Lucky’s Market (#462) anchored the center from 1965 till 1999 when it became an Albertsons following the purchase of Lucky’s supermarket chain by Albertsons in 1998. When Albertsons and Safeway merged in 2014 they were forced, for anti competitive reasons, to sell many stores. The two giants sold 146 stores to Haggen a small grocery chain based out of Washington.
This proved too much for Haggen who filed for bankruptcy in 2015. (In an interesting twist Albertsons later bought back many of the stores from the bankrupt Haggen).
After Haggen’s short stay, Gelson’s opened in March 2016 with a 10 year lease. Gelson’s, founded in 1951 and currently operating 27 upscale supermarkets from Santa Barbara to San Diego, is being acquired from owner TPG Capital by Tokyo-based Pan Pacific International Holdings. A new Gelson’s is opening in the Hines West Edge project at the old Martin Cadillac dealership site at Bundy and Olympic.
The Los Angeles County Assessor (APN 4285-001-030) address for the parcel is 2601 Lincoln with an assessed value of $75MM - a big increase from the previously assessed value of $7MM. There is a total of 57,600 sq-ft of improvements (including the 41,300 sq-ft anchor (Gelson’s) building) on the approximately 500 ft x 400 ft (180,000 sq-ft) lot.
The 2010 Land Use and Circulation Element (LUCE) identified the site as an Activity Center where larger scale development beyond Tier 3 standards was envisioned. However, amendments to the LUCE eliminated Activity Centers.
The site is City zoned Mixed-Use Boulevard Low (MUBL) - unlike most of Lincoln south of the Freeway which is zoned General Commercial (GC). MUBL zoning (like the Bowlmor project on Pico at 3rd) has a higher FAR than GC zoning. State affordable housing and transit corridor bonuses would also apply.