SOUTH BEND, IN—The economic crash left a multitude of retailshopping centers throughout the Midwest either shuttered orwallowing in bankruptcy proceedings. But today, firms likeGreat Lakes Capital are moving in to buy up theseproperties and put some life back into them. The South Bend,IN-based firm, for example, has just scooped up the 11 propertiesin the Silvercreek Retail Portfolio, shoppingcenters located in small cities west of Indianapolis throughNorthern Indiana that were sold through a special server.

“We think that there is tremendous value there,” JeffSmoke, director of development for Great Lakes, tellsGlobeSt.com. “The properties are right in our geographic area, allwithin about two hours, so we have a lot of local marketknowledge.”

Smoke estimates that the centers, which range in size from about5,500-square-feet to about 25,000-square-feet, and are in smallercities like Greencastle, Warsaw, Elkhart and Plymouth, have anaverage occupancy of about 56%. However, the firm picked up thecenters “for the right price, and that gives us a lot of options”to bring them back to their full operating potential.