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TUKWILA, WA-Wig Properties is planning to turn a 19-acre distribution property on Southcenter Parkway into a 300,000-sf retail center. The Seattle-based retail developer is purchasing the property from JCPenney for $18.6 million. The transaction is scheduled to close today. Surrounded by retail, the property occupies the northeast quadrant of the Southcenter Parkway-Minkler Boulevard intersection. It is adjacent to the Bon-Macy clearance store and across from a strip mall anchored by a Men's Warehouse. Westfield's Southcenter mall is just up the street, down the street is more retail.Project manager Leysha Wig, says a design review application already has been submitted to the city. The site plan is still being finalized, but the use is permitted outright and the city is "very much on board," she says. There are wetlands on the back five acres, but Wig says she expects to be able to mitigate that in order to build on the entire site. The tentative timeline is to break ground toward the end of 2005 or early in 2006. The two existing industrial buildings would be demolished and replaced with 300,000 sf of retail. Assuming an all-in development cost of approximately $200 per sf, it would be a $60-million endeavor.The goal is to have the center at least 60% preleased before moving forward with construction. Early interest has Wig thinking it may not be too difficult to achieve. "The Southcenter area seems like a location that everyone wants to be at," she says. "Right now I have a list of 60- to 70 potential tenants that have called us, a lot of them new to the area."Paul Carr of CB Richard Ellis represented Wig Properties in the transaction. Milt Reimers of CB Richard Ellis and Jay Hanseth represented JCPenney.