Archon will lease or sell the buildings, "whichever makes most sense," says Steve Lipscomb, senior vice president of Archon's retail division. He declined to say how much Archon paid Albertsons, which is based in Boise, ID, for the properties. The stores range in size from 50,000 sf to 60,000 sf and are in the city's northeast, north and northwest submarkets. Archon is working on buying the five remaining stores.
The Houston-based Transwestern Commercial Services brought the deal to Archon, Lipscomb tells GlobeSt.com. David Saunders of Transwestern's San Antonio office will market the properties.
Albertsons closed 23 stores last year when it left San Antonio and Houston, saying the markets were not providing an adequate return. Since then, San Antonio-based H-E-B has bought five of of closed sites; Conn's Appliances bought one; and two others were sold at auction.
The Albertsons stores are Archon's first retail holdings in San Antonio, but it owns and manages the Claremore Apartment Homes at 18777 Stone Oak Parkway in the northwest submarket.
"We think there's a good opportunity in San Antonio," Lipscomb says. "We like San Antonio as a market. It's had as healthy growth as any city in Texas over the last several years."
The buildings are all freestanding although some are stand alone and others are adjacent to shopping centers. "We're going to re-tenant them with a variety of users," Lipscomb says. "Office, retail, etc. It won't just be retail." Whether a building is converted to office or another non-retail use depends on the situation, he says. "Whatever the best and most profitable use is on each."
Archon is the domestic real estate arm of Goldman Sachs. Archon Group currently manages investments totaling more than $15 billion in North America, Asia and Europe.
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