The region that includes Stockton has long been among the biggest agricultural hubs of California’s Central Valley, but the city never had its own location of the popular, produce-focused grocery chain Sprouts Farmers Market.
That changed in September 2022 when the regional mall Sherwood Place landed the city’s first location of Phoenix-based Sprouts, which leased approximately 26,800 square feet at 5308 Pacific Ave. For its potential to revitalize an otherwise long-struggling mall with new daily foot traffic and ripple business activity, the lease garnered a 2023 CoStar Impact Award for lease of the year, as judged by a panel of local industry professionals.
The lease was considered a coup for a property that opened in 1979 and in recent years has dealt with numerous vacancies. Brixton Capital, a division of San Diego-based investment and development firm Brutten Global, acquired the approximately 511,000-square-foot retail property in 2017 and in late 2021 and announced a planned redevelopment in which Sprouts would eventually be a prominent tenant, along with others that were in the works.
The renovation began early last year and is nearing completion, according to a Brixton statement, as the property owner looks to serve grocery and other daily needs of local residents not previously being met on a wide scale. The recently opened Sprouts joined the mall’s existing retail tenants, including Macy’s, Best Buy, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Petco and Home Goods.
About the transaction: Sprouts Farmers Market leased 26,800 square feet at the regional Sherwood Place mall, marking the specialty grocer's first location in the city.
What the judges said: “The ability to attract a first-class tenant to a secondary market, in a creative and new way and by ‘de-malling’ an antiquated mall, is brilliant,” said Patrick Dobson, vice president of real estate private equity firm Graceada Partners.
They made it happen: Chris Sill of brokerage Lee & Associates represented the landlord. Gary Gallelli Jr. and Aman Bains of brokerage Gallelli Real Estate represented the tenant.