Westlake Shopping Center
Daly City, California
Westlake Shopping Center is one of the crown jewels of Kimco’s portfolio, and a great turnaround story. The 690,000-square-foot power center, near I-280, not only serves as the downtown retail hub for Daly City, it also pulls in a high volume of shoppers from neighboring San Francisco, where there is a moratorium on big-box stores.
Originally built in the 1960s as a pedestrian mall, Westlake was about 90 percent vacant when it was purchased by Kimco in 2004. Since then, the center has been completely redeveloped and is now 96 percent occupied. The renovations include the addition of 50,000 square feet of retail space, two four-story parking decks and additional field parking, and a “main street” area with a restaurant row that offers shoppers a wide variety of ethnic dining options.
A true mixed-use lifestyle center, Westlake is anchored by Home Depot and Safeway, and includes such national retailers as Cost Plus, Trader Joe’s, Ross Dress for Less, T.J. Maxx and Walgreens. Small shop tenants include Starbucks, Verizon and Bank of America, along with a variety of convenience and personal-service retailers. There’s even a medical office building and professional office building on site, making Westlake a true one-stop destination center.
Kimco has earned a strong return on its investment in Westlake. Purchased for $81 million, Kimco invested $87 million in renovations, and the property is now worth more than $250 million. And Westlake keeps on giving: nearly 15,000 square feet of new leases were signed last year and net operating income was up 4.8 percent. With room to grow, Kimco plans further site expansion in the future.