THE FORMER Pavilions supermarket at Chapman Avenue and Brookhurst Street in Garden Grove has been sold to the Sterling Organization of Florida (OC Tribune photo).

A key piece of property in Garden Grove’s busiest commercial area has been sold to a real estate developer with wide experience in bringing new stores and restaurants to shopping areas.

The Sterling Organization, based in Palm Beach, Fla., bought the land and building of the former Pavilions supermarket in the Pavilion Plaza on Chapman Avenue, west of Brookhurst Street for $11 million. The building is just under 76,000 square feet and has been vacant for over a decade.

In a press release, the Sterling group described the property at 9852 Chapman Ave. as being in a “dense infill location along one of the area’s primary commercial thoroughfares in an extremely vibrant trade area.”

The building began as a Zody’s discount department store, but in the early Eighties became the flagship of the Pavilions supermarket group started by Vons. It was a higher-end and larger store that was at one time the largest supermarket in Orange County.

As shopping habits and demographics changed, it was repurposed as a more routine Vons Food and Drug and eventually closed, remaining vacant for years. It’s located in the Pavilion Plaza, which is anchored by a CVS pharmacy, a Chuze fitness gym and a Best Choice market.

The building is located directly across the street from The Promenade, a bustling center anchored by a 16-screen Regal Cinema, Walmart, Ross Dress for Less, PetSmart and Aldi’s. Five new eateries opened in the center in the last year.

Sterling owns about $2 billion worth of real estate across the nation. In other properties it owns and operates, the company has recruited retailers such as Home Goods, DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse, a 3-D cinema and the teen fashion store Five Below.

In the Sixties and early Seventies, the Brookhurst/Chapman area was the destination shopping area for west Orange County.