SAN JOSE — A Bay Area auto dealership executive has widened his business footprint by purchasing a vehicle sales property at a high-profile site in south San Jose through a deal that tops $15 million.
Pedram Amin, acting through an affiliate, has bought the Capitol Nissan site at 1120 Capitol Expressway in San Jose, documents filed on Nov. 1 with the Santa Clara County Recorder’s Office show.
The property, located near the corner of Capitol Expressway and Almaden Expressway, was bought for $18.5 million, the county real estate records show.
The deal suggests that investors remain interested in certain types of commercial properties in the South Bay despite the worsening woes for the office, hotel and retail markets in the region.
The seller was a Louisiana-based group headed up by Troy Duhon, according to the property documents.
Capitol Nissan is at the west end of the busy Capitol Expressway Auto Row that stretches for a mile between Almaden Expressway and State Route 87.
Two years ago, the Capitol Expressway Auto Mall area attracted buying interest from another automotive retail group seeking to widen its local property holdings.
In 2022, Del Grande Dealership Group (DGDG) paid $6.1 million to buy a 2.3-acre site behind some of the vehicle dealerships that line San Jose’s Capitol Expressway auto mall.
Affiliates headed up by Amin operate at least two other auto dealerships in the South Bay, California business records show.
Amin-headed affiliates operate a Hyundai of Gilroy dealership at 6700 Auto Mall Parkway in Gilroy and an Infiniti of San Jose dealership at 2198 Tully Road in San Jose.
The Amin-headed groups, however, don’t own the properties where the Hyundai or Infiniti dealerships operate.
The purchase of the Capitol Nissan site gives an Amin-led affiliate ownership of the property.
Capital Nissan USA has a long-term lease for the San Jose dealership site on Capitol Expressway, the county documents show.
The property documents related to the rental agreement suggest Capital Nissan USA will continue to operate the vehicle sales business on at the 1120 Capitol Expressway site.
The deal also points to rising real estate values for vehicle dealerships in the area despite the headwinds that buffet the commercial property markets.
As of January 2024, the estimated value of the three parcels that the Amin-led group bought at 1120 Capitol Expressway was $9.5 million, documents on file with the Santa Clara County Assessor’s Office show.
This means the purchase price was 94% higher — nearly double — the assessed value of the property.