Ames to Vacate More than 1 Mil SF in Kimco Realty's Shopping Centers

NEW HYDE PARK, NY-Kimco Realty Corp., the country’s largest publicly traded shopping center owner, is taking a significant hit from Ames Department Stores Inc.’s recent announcement that it will shutter 47 more stores. In addition, a Kimco subsidiary has supplied the now-bankrupt chain with part of a $755-million credit package to keep it up and running.

Until recently, Ames, among the nation’s largest regional, full-line discount retailers, boasted more than 400 stores in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Mid-West, employed 35,000 people and brought in annual sales of approximately $4 billion. The bottom started falling out in November, when Ames announced plans to close 32 stores, including 31 of the stores it acquired from Hills Stores Co. in December 1998.

Last week, Ames stumbled again, announcing that it had filed for Chapter 11 protection and that it would shutter 47 stores. Included in the latest round of closings, which is expected to be completed by October, seven stores–five in Ohio, one in Virginia and one in Pennsylvania–are leased from Kimco. Total space is roughly 700,000 sf.