CHICAGO—The recent shuttering of the once-popularDominick's Finer Foods stores could have been aworrisome development for the metro area's retail market. But sincethen demand for the vacated spaces has remained strong.Millennium Properties R/E, for example, had noshortage of prospective buyers when it recently brokered the saleof five former Dominick's outlots located throughout the suburbs.The spaces were sold as a portfolio to GMX Real EstateGroup, a regional retail developer based in suburbanVernon Hills, for a total of $3.4 million.

Three of these properties – located in FoxLake, Oswego and Shorewood – were developed as gas stations withsmall convenience stores. The stations were decommissioned and thesites are ready for redevelopment. Two other outlots, in Aurora andFrankfort, are both zoned for retail or future gas stationdevelopment.

All of the sites are located in theirrespective area's main retail districts close to both residentialand commercial areas with strong demographic trends, SusanB. Silver, executive vice president of Millennium, tellsGlobeSt.com. And several are adjacent to grocery stores that havebeen acquired by Mariano's, now the region'shottest grocer. “All of these sites are where the action is. Everyone of the Dominick's was well-located.”