California Marketplace, a Koreatown shopping center with more than two dozen tenants, has sold for $57.5 million.

In a Dec. 14 announcement, CBRE Group Inc. said a private investment company purchased the property, paying 10% above asking price, from a private developer.

The three-story shopping center spans 80,000 square feet at 450 S. Western Ave. and features a four-level parking structure.

At the time of the sale, the property was 86% leased to 25 tenants, including Gaju Market Corp., Pacific City Bank, Myungrang Hot Dog and BMB Medical Group, according to CBRE.

CBRE’s Michael Shustak, Derrick Moore, Chris Caras and Phillip Sample represented the seller in the transaction.

“Despite the unprecedented turmoil in the retail market brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, we continue to see strong demand for well-located, high-quality grocery-
anchored retail shopping centers,” Moore said in a statement.

Shustak added that some of the center’s specific characteristics made it especially desirable.

“The public’s needs have been changing during Covid-19, and this center has been successfully able to adapt to these dynamic conditions, including increased grocery store traffic and use of common areas for dining,” he said in a statement. “This open-air design also allowed social distancing through the use of escalators and parking structure entry points, increasing its utility beyond that of the usual multilevel center or indoor mall seen in Koreatown.”

Columbia Pacific Advisors provided a $52.5 million loan for the acquisition.

The funds are being used to buy the property, which was acquired in a bankruptcy auction sale, and to help it stabilize.

“The Koreatown submarket has held up during the pandemic, quality retail remains in high demand, and we are confident the infusion of capital will further stabilize the asset,” Will Nelson, senior vice president of real estate lending at Columbia Pacific Advisors, said in a statement. “450 South Western Avenue is an open-air retail center with ample parking, and we believe it is well positioned to navigate the obstacles of the pandemic and excel as the country begins to recover.”

Covid-19 has fueled a boom in ecommerce as more shoppers turn online for everything from clothes to food to entertainment. And that shift has impacted the retail real estate market.

During the third quarter, the asking rental rate for retail properties in L.A. County was $2.86 a square foot on a triple net basis, down 15 cents quarter over quarter, according to CBRE data.

But some experts say landlords are giving more allowances than before, like free rent and increased tenant improvement allowances.

Vacancy rates in L.A. County ticked up to 6.2% from 5.8% last year, the brokerage found. Grocery-anchored shopping centers, however, have performed well, according to experts. Pharmacies, home improvement stores and other daily needs tenants are also doing well.