A Concord shopping center that encountered choppy waters in the recession has weathered the storm and just traded, marking the first major shopping center sale in East Bay this year—and a doozy at that.

The 73k SF center at 1280 Willow Pass just closed to a private investor family, the retail broker John Cumbelich tells us. Pre-recession, it was leased to three tenants: Sport Chalet, Tower Records, and Guitar Center. The power center started fading fast, with Sport and Tower struggling, and owner C&H Development tapped John to find a replacement tenant or tenants. He put in Hobby Lobby, a 600-plus craft store chain that's growing in California (they're to blame if you get a homemade birdhouse for your birthday), recharging the center back to 0% vacancy. After he consummated the 57k SF lease—which filled in the Tower and Sport spaces—he was kept on to sell the property.

The two-month marketing period saw multiple offers, he says, which came close to the asking price of $20M, at a 6.5% cap rate. It's been under contract for 45 days and escrow closed today. Guitar Center just negotiated a long-term lease extension. The buyer has large investments in real estate, though not concentrated in the shopping center arena. Meanwhile, seller Walnut Creek-based C&H has been in the shopping center investment and development biz for 30 years. The final sales price was undisclosed.