Former Kmart HQ Sells for $18M

TROY, MI-Diamond Troy JV LLC has sold the former Kmart headquarters facility here to Forbes/Frankel Troy Ventures. The purchase price was not released, but according to reports the 906,000-square-foot property traded hands for $17.5 million.

David Long, senior associate with CB Richard Ellis, tells GlobeSt.com the buyer owns the mall across the street, which made the acquisition a smart move. “By most mall performance standards, The Somerset Collection is one of the top performing malls in the U.S. The buyers will at some point create a comparable project on this quadrant of the intersection,” he says.

Long, with colleague Robert Mahoney, represented the seller.

The facility, which sits on 40 acres at 3100 W. Big Beaver Rd., was vacated by Kmart in 2006 when the company merged with Sears Roebuck & Co. Kmart transferred its headquarters to Hoffman Estates, IL.

There have been a number of number of preliminary plans outlined for the site over the years, including a $300 million mixed-used development that would include 290,000 square feet of retail, 300,000 square feet of office space, a 250-room hotel, a theater and 750 multifamily residences, likely condos that will include 150 senior housing units.

In the middle of 2008, both the city and the state government approved financial assistance for the project, which had grown in price to $320 million. The plan was later shelved with the worsening economic situation.