Ross Dress for Less, a division of Ross Stores Inc. from Newark, CA, has committed to 31,000 sf in the empty grocery store and Linens N' Things Inc. of Clifton, NJ, will lease 24,000 sf, with part of the 12,000-sf balance reserved for common area in the structure at Sikes Center Mall along Kemp Street, Greg Rabin, a senior vice president for Fort Worth-based Woodmont Co., tells GlobeSt.com. Rabin said the deal resulted from a day trip with longtime business associate, Paul Blackburn of Wichita Lineman Ltd. of San Antonio, in search of Wichita Falls development sites.
In driving the market, the duo discovered a 9 1/2-acre tract, with a vacant 110,00-sf Wal-Mart, was on the auction block. Rabin said his national clients, though, really wanted a close-in mall location despite the site's location as a neighbor to the Bentonville, AR retailer's new super store.
"It's a great piece of real estate," Rabin says of the auctioned property. The Atlanta-based Home Depot Inc. thought so too and bought it as soon as Wichita Lineman could turn around the deed for the site along Kell Boulevard and across the street from its chief competitor, Lowe's Cos. Inc. of Wilkesboro, NC.
In sync with the deal making, Rabin and Blackburn secured a closed grocery store from Boise, ID-based Albertsons for Ross and Linens N' Things. The retailers are eyeing fall openings while Home Depot has started site work, which included razing the Wal-Mart in the town about 150 miles northwest of Dallas.
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