Owner of Bankrupt Hechinger Stores Leasing 180,000 SF at Three PA Sites

LANCASTER, PA-Family-owned retailer Wolf Furniture has picked up the leases on two of bankrupt building-supply chain Hechinger Co.’s Pennsylvania stores. A third location has been sold and is partially leased to household superstore Linens & Things and another national tenant is negotiating for the remainder of the space.

Lancaster Hechinger, 2040 Bennett Ave., is a 60,000-sf freestanding former Hechinger location owned by Hechinger Ent., which is a separate entity from Hechinger Co. It has been leased by Altoona, PA-based Wolf for 20 years at a price per sf “in the $5-to-$7 range,” according to JBG Rosenfeld Retail principal Jim Garibaldi. The real estate firm assisted Hechinger in the disposal of all three properties. Constructed in 1978, the property includes a 325-car parking lot. “Wolf is working on the build-out right now,” Garibaldi tells GlobeSt.com. “They plan on opening some time after the first of the year.”

Wolf has also leased a similar store, Hechinger Camp Hill. Located in Camp Hill, PA, the 60,000-sf stand-alone big box has 281 parking spaces. Like the Lancaster property, Camp Hill was built in 1978, though Wolf’s rent is slightly higher here than in Lancaster. “With Camp Hill, the difference is that the owner put a fair amount of dollars going in,” Garibaldi says. “Camp Hill is a low-double-digit market.” Opening date is slated to be close to that of the Lancaster store. The lease term is 10 years.

Hechinger York, in York, PA, has been sold to Steuart Investment Co. for an undisclosed price. Another 60,000-sf property, the York site has already been partially leased to Linens & Things, which will open a 35,000-sf store there in January. Terms were not disclosed. According to Garibaldi, Rosenfeld is currently in negotiations “with another national retailer” for the remaining space. He says the lease is on track to be signed by mid-November with a new store scheduled to open in late summer of 2002.

Bethesda, MD-based JBG Rosenfeld Retail specializes in the leasing, development, acquisition, construction, and management of retail properties across the Mid-Atlantic region. Currently, JBGR holds 18 shopping centers and nine freestanding store sites in its portfolio.