SoldBroker Activity · Entry № 93

Erewhon Buys Its Santa Monica Store for $19.1 Million

The luxury grocer paid $1,528 per square foot. Nearly twice the Santa Monica retail average to own the building it was already renting.

PublishedAugust 2026

StatusSold · Just Closed

DatelineThe Tape · Santa Monica

2800 Wilshire Blvd hero photo — FIG. 01, 2800 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90403. Image via Google Street View.

Four takeawaysFour things an operator clocks on this trade

Erewhon paid a huge price but this was not a normal real estate investment.Erewhon paid $19.1 million for a 12,500-square-foot building at 2800 Wilshire Boulevard. That comes out to $1,528 per square foot. At the time of the sale, Santa Monica retail properties were averaging about $765 per square foot. Erewhon paid almost twice that amount. A regular real estate investor would probably have a hard time to make these numbers work. But Erewhon is not a regular investor. It is buying the building for its own successful business. That changes the math.
Erewhon is using money from its operating business to protect its best locations.Erewhon opened this store in 2018. Eight years later, it bought the building from its landlord.If Erewhon remained a tenant, the landlord would continue owning the real estate made more valuable by Erewhon’s success. No outside landlord can eventually raise the rent. Erewhon paid up, but it removed that long-term risk.
The price may be easier to understand when compared with Erewhon’s sales.Reports have estimated that Erewhon stores generate approximately $1,800 to $2,500 in annual sales per square foot—far above the grocery industry average. Impressive! That means it does 20-30M a year in that store. That is only an estimate. Erewhon does not publicly report sales for this store. The purchase price could be less than one year of the store’s gross sales
This is becoming a real estate strategy—not a one-time purchase.Erewhon has been buying more of the real estate it needs to operate. It paid approximately $12.4 million for its Glendale property. It paid $13.5 million for a Downtown Los Angeles building. It also acquired a major industrial and distribution property for approximately $51 million. Now it has paid another $19.1 million for Santa Monica. CoStar shows approximately $112.1 million of acquisitions connected to Erewhon over the past five years.

Deal Stats · 2800 Wilshire Blvd

Sale Price

$19.1M

closed Jul 31, 2026

Price / SF (Bldg)

$1,528/SF

12,500 SF building

Price / SF (Land)

$653/SF

29,246 SF lot

Lot Size

0.67 ac

29,246 SF · APN 4267-005-008

Year Built

1994

Reinforced Concrete · 1 story

Zoning

SMC6*

Santa Monica

Sale Type

Owner-User

Purchase by Tenant

ULA Transfer Tax

No ULA

4.04% on Measure ULA threshold

Assessed Value (2025)

$6.74M

land $3.45M · impr. $3.29M

Parking

6 stalls

surface lot

What an Operator Sees

The most interesting part of this deal to me is how much luck this seller got. The seller owned the property for more than 20 years. Then Erewhon came along, leased the building, invested in the location and turned it into this cash flowing grocery store with net margins that are on steroids.

That placed the owner in an incredible position. It became a location that Erewhon did not want to lose.

A normal buyer might have valued the property based on its rent, building size and land. Erewhon could value it based on the successful business operating inside and wanting to own all their stores.

That is how the seller received $1,528 per square foot in a market averaging about $765.

The seller got lucky. Most landlords will never have a tenant become this successful or care this much about controlling one specific address.

Erewhon may have overpaid based on normal real estate values. But it secured a proven store, removed future rent risk and kept control of the location.

The seller may have done even better. It let Erewhon create the value and then sold that value back to Erewhon at a major premium.

Luck plays a part in business.

As Jim Collins has said - "You must strike when you get luck" and this investor did.

For Brokers:

Seller could need a 1031:

J.S. Signet, Inc.

256 26th StSanta Monica, CA 90402United States

(310) 451-3111

I'm researching the market to make better investment strategies. I'm sharing what I find along the way with other investors to have discussions, debates and help make better decisions.

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Property and transaction data: CoStar Research.

Written from the field

David Safai, operator, developer, GC.

Atlas Home Builders, Inc. is a Los Angeles owner-operator and general contractor. If you are a broker with a listing you want an honest read on, send the OM and the T-12 to David@AtlasBrief.La.

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