PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland investors have purchased the former Walmart at Eastport Plaza for $20 million, with plans to turn it into a Hong Phat Supercenter, the Business Journal has learned.
Last March, Walmart closed the big box store at 4200 Southeast 82nd Ave. Earlier this month, Walmart Real Estate Business Trust sold the building to a group called Portland International Center LLC for $20 million, public records show.
Local real estate firm Ethos Commercial Advisors said in a social media post, without naming new owners, that it had sourced a five-year, nearly $15 million loan representing three-quarters of the 154,000-square-foot building's sale price.
Portland International Center, formed last September, is made up of Hoang Nguyen, Brandon Wang and the Huot Family Revocable Trust, according to state business filings.
Wang, founder and CEO of Hong Phat, said this will be the fourth Hong Phat in the Portland metro. The other stores are at 9819 Northeast Prescott Street and 101 Southeast 82nd Avenue in Portland, and 11655 Southwest Pacific Highway in Tigard.
The store within the former Walmart will take up at least 120,000 square feet, making it Wang's largest location yet. The other 30,000-plus square feet will be for other tenants.
When the Walmart location closed, the retailer laid off 379 employees. Nguyen said he hopes to bring 200 to 300 jobs back to the community.
Wang and Nguyen are longtime friends and business partners and have done several real estate deals before together. In 2012, they turned the former Safeway on Southeast 82nd into a Hong Phat, and did the same in Tigard.
The Portland Business Journal, a KGW news partner, has more on the former Walmart building’s sale. Click or tap here to read the full article.
