SAN JOSE — A vibrant Vietnamese indoor market could sprout inside a closed former Sears store at Eastridge Center shopping mall in East San Jose now that a real estate entrepreneur has bought a cavernous building. .
Affiliate Intelli, led by San Jose-based business and real estate executive Do Van Tron, purchased the old Sears department store. Tron plans to develop a new retail, restaurant and food complex in the space. It is not yet clear when the market will open.
“I’m planning an indoor market,” Tron said. “It’s like an indoor market in Vietnam.”
One notable example is Ben Thanh Market, a huge 110-year-old indoor market in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon). The market is one of the oldest structures in Vietnam, built in his 1912.
“Vietnamese people have good memories of these markets from our country,” Tron said.
According to Tron, the new owner paid $24.8 million for the property at 2180 Eastridge Loop in San Jose.
“This is going to be very successful,” said David Taxin, partner at commercial real estate firm Meacham/Oppenheimer. “This place is located in an area that is the main center of the Vietnamese community.”
Nearly 125,000 people of Vietnamese descent live in San Jose. 2019 American Community Survey.
Hello Ben Thanh Indoor Market is the name of the proposed complex at the Eastridge Center, according to Tron.
According to the project concept provided to the news agency, the development will total 260,100 square feet.
The Vietnamese market includes food courts, banquet halls, entertainment centers, common areas, children’s play centers, free entertainment on weekends, and concerts that can be published on social media.
“A large market and food hall is envisioned,” said the development plan. “Food halls are very popular because they are a one-stop shop for different customer tastes. A similar concept and a popular food hall chain named Eataly, which is a market and food hall based entirely on Italian cuisine. It is enough to look at the
The new market will feature multiple food courts, including 50 food booths ranging in size from 200 square feet to 400 square feet.
“Each booth will offer dishes including Vietnamese cuisine such as beef noodle soup, chicken noodle soup, vermicelli noodles, hot pot, vegetarian food, sticky rice, bread, spring rolls, salad rolls, and tea from California’s most famous Vietnamese restaurant. out of state, from Vietnam” development concept.
The expected culinary range will expand beyond Vietnam, tentative proposals show. The booth will sell traditional foods from China, Korea, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines according to the development plan. According to the plan, “all tenants appearing in the food hall will be required to submit food samples before being selected as a vendor.”
The largest single category, measured in total space, will be devoted to goods and services operating on 120,000 square feet.
Fresh vegetables and fruits from Vietnamese farms, dry goods such as beef jerky and sweets, traditional Vietnamese clothing, men’s clothing, women’s clothing, watch and jewelry repair, traditional crafts, goods, porcelain and stone statues, luxury goods Such. Car showrooms are operated with goods and service areas.
The new complex will operate on both floors of the old Searsville. Some storage is provided on the second floor.
To help increase foot traffic, the new Vietnam market will be directly connected to the main Eastridge Center complex, just as previous Sears stores were connected.
“With the opening of the Hello Ben Thanh Indoor Market and Food Hall, the City of San Jose will receive significant tax revenue collected from the many vendors and businesses that operate from the market,” said the development concept. said. “The market will also create a lot of jobs.”
Scooty Nickerson contributed to the report.