(For more retail coverage, click GlobeSt.com/RETAIL and to read more on the industrial market, click here.)
MEMPHIS-The 1.45-million-sf, 10-story Sears Crosstown building at 495 North Watkins St. is being sold. The asking price for the vacant building was not disclosed.
Holliday Fenoglio Fowler managing director Andrew Scandalios, who is located in the company's New York office, and director Jason Nettles, who is located in the company's Atlanta office, are representing the seller. Nettles tells GlobeSt.com that the seller, who was not named, decided that market conditions were favorable for a sale. "They decided that it was a good time to sell," he says. "There was no strategic thought process behind the decision."
The art deco building is the former site of the Sears Roebuck & Co. catalog distribution center and is near the Memphis Zoo, Rhodes College and Downtown, among other cultural hubs. The building was constructed in 1927, but does not face any historic preservation restrictions.
"Sears Crosstown is a historic landmark that offers investors a unique redevelopment opportunity. The Memphis Renewal Community, in which Sears Crosstown is located, is the largest urban renewal community in the country," Scandalios says. "Downtown Memphis is a nationally recognized model for gentrification and is experiencing one of the most successful revitalizations in the country."
Nettles says the property is being marketed to residential and retail companies, but it is possible that other types of developers may be interested in it. The property is likely to be redeveloped in ways similar to former Sears Catalog Distribution Centers in other cities, such as the Starbucks Center in Seattle. In Dallas, a former Sears building was transformed into a building with 455 loft housing units over a retail and entertainment promenade; in Boston, a Sears property was redeveloped into office, retail and entertainment space. "Redevelopment of Sears Catalog Distribution Centers in other cities has been highly successful," Nettles says.
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