Pearle Vision headquarters has been largely vacant since fall 2000 when operations had finally been relocated to its parent company's Cleveland hub. The 2534 Royal Lane building is situated in a transitional area that has been dubbed the Asian Trade District, where an influx of Asian-American businesses has opened in recent years.

Lynn, Jinn & Peter Inc., a Texas corporation, has bought the main building and about nine acres, Clyde McKinney, senior vice president with Grubb & Ellis Co.'s Dallas office, tells GlobeSt.com. McKinney's mum about the sales price, but the property had been listed at $5.5 million.

The buyer has indicated the acquisition will be retrofitted for retail, in keeping with the submarket's changing industrial persona, says McKinney. Across the street is a former Trammell Crow Co. industrial development that has long since been converted to Asian-American retail operations.

McKinney says the closing has been a long time in coming. Cleveland-based Cole Vision had taken Pearle over a few years ago and a decision on the property's fate has been hanging ever since. Among the considerations had been a lock, stock and barrel sale and relocate Pearle's regional distribution and lens grinding center to another metroplex site. In the end, Pearle had decided to subdivide and hawk just a portion of its property, which it has owned since 1966. The property has been under contract for a year, shortly after it had gone on the market. Meanwhile, Pearle had added a 35,000-sf office component to the distribution building to accommodate a small staff that has been kept on board for Dallas, according to McKinney.

McKinney has represented Pearle Vision in the sale along with Grubb & Ellis' Mark Nelson in Dallas and William Saltzman, senior vice president in Cleveland. Jong Park with Metrocrest Property Co. has acted on the buyer's behalf.