GlobeSt.com EXCLUSIVE: Empty Big Box Brings About $1.2M

LEAGUE CITY, TX-The ongoing disposition of the vacant Food Lion grocery stores has brought another sale. This time, League City makes the score with a 36,890-sf big box going to a locally-based business with a plan to convert the building into a showroom for computer products and vintage model cars.

The building is situated on about five acres at 15355 Black Hawk St. in a town 26 miles southeast of downtown Houston. The holding came to market in 1998 along with 26 other Food Lion stores in Texas. Greg McDonald, EVP for Dallas-based Weitzman Group, tells GlobeSt.com that the selling price came close to the $1.2-million ask.

ThorTek Corp., a computer products distributor, will convert some space into office while reserving the balance for a retail showroom and service area, says Barbara Everhart of Prudential Gary Green, a League City real estate firm. Everhart, who represented ThorTek, says construction should begin in two weeks.

Everhart says her clients looked at several buildings before settling on the former Food Lion. The large building, tract size and ample parking were selling points for the buyers, she says.

According to McDonald, several churches were interested in the property before ThorTek, but financing problems ultimately destroyed the deals. Of the 16 Food Lions that have been sold in Texas, McDonald says about seven have been converted into churches, three into Goodwill facilities and several others have been switched into public facilities such as offices for municipalities and courthouses.

There is only one former Food Lion left for sale in the Houston area: a 31,762-sf building on four acres at 2311 Strawberry Rd. in Pasadena. To hasten the sale, the owners dropped the price to $1 million, McDonald says.