Leasing Strategy Eyed for Vacant MJDesigns Mall Site

The value-add buy's location at 1418 N. Town East Blvd. was the main selling point. It is positioned right on the edge of the 185-store Town East Mall owned by the Chicago-based REIT, General Growth Properties and in a trade area extending 60 miles. Demographics show Town East Mall's 20 million annual head count is one of the highest in the region.

Kaminski tells GlobeSt.com that the leasing strategy will be to find multiple tenants for the medium-size big box property. That's not to say that single tenants won't be courted because they will. A final decision as to whether to "carve up the space" will come after a few months in the market. One letter of intent already is in hand and several national credit tenants reportedly have asked about the property's availability.

The hope is to find "two to four" tenants for an architecturally appealing space division well-suited to retail needs. Larry Jordan and Steve Williamson, both of Chicago's Transwestern Commercial Services' Dallas office, have been tasked with the challenge.

Mesquite is gaining ground in the retail sector, but is still one of the tightest retail markets in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, according to Kaminski. That won't be the case for long. Across Interstate 635 from Town East Mall, Atlanta's JDN Realty and Dallas' Canyon Partners have started work on their 266,000-sf power center, Marketplace at Town Centre.

Kaminski of Kamco Property Co. and Remphrey of Brytar Co. partnered for the big box acquisition, marking their second retail buy in the region. The buyer of record is MJ Crossing Ltd. Sean Porter of Dallas-based Capstone Commercial brokered the sale. Kaminski said the property was never officially put on the market by AWB Realty LP after the lease was rejected in the MJDesigns bankruptcy proceedings.