Mays & Co. Closes On Six-Acre Retail Tract

SAN ANTONIO-A Dallas-based developer has snagged 6.49 acres in a plan to ready a 4.1-acre parcel for resale to a national furniture retailer. The land, ticketed for a 35,000-sf store, is the last piece of commercial property fronting Interstate 10 in the area.

Mays & Co. Real Estate Development LLC bought land at the intersection of Interstate 10 and UTSA Boulevard from Costco. James Mason, vice president of Mays & Co., says the acreage is surplus land from Costco Wholesale Corp.’s 2002 construction of a retail outlet at 5611 UTSA Blvd.

Mason pegs the all-in costs for the land and horizontal development at $6 million. The transaction was financed by Legacy Texas Bank in Plano.

Mason tells GlobeSt.com that Mays & Co. had the land under contract from the Issaquah, WA-based Costco when Robert O’Farrell, vice president with Staubach Co. in Austin, suggested it might be a good site for the furniture chain.

With the land deal done, Mason says site work will begin in April. “The retailer will take it over between 90 and 120 days and start doing vertical construction,” he says.

Mason says O’Farrell has been retained to market the remaining 2.39 acres for $19 per sf. The site could support an 8,000-sf restaurant or a 20,000-sf retail box. “We currently have three or four interested parties. Two are investors and the others are sit-down restaurants,” Mason says. “It’s a great spot and we’ve gotten a lot of interest in this in a short period of time.”

Mays & Co. is no stranger to San Antonio, having bought land and developed Firestone Auto Care Centers and Office Depots in the city. Mason says there are additional land deals being pursued for several projects that in Mays & Co.’s pipeline.