Former Grocery Site Provides Long-Term Investment Prospects
Big boxes centrally located within dense mature markets provide unique long-term investment opportunities, and are attractive to retailers relying on frequent repeat traffic and servicers seeking core locations.
AMARILLO, TX—As retail continues to evolve, big-box sites are finding new life in other uses and providing a way of introducing new tenants to a given market. Such was the case with a former grocery store site located at 2200 Bell St.
The 5.15-acre 63,231-square-foot former retail property was recently acquired by STORE Capital. The sellers were AL Enterprises Inc. and Super Market Developers Inc.
JLL’s Michael Meaden completed the sale on behalf of AL Enterprises and Super Market Developers. CBRE’s Zach Ballenger represented the buyer.
“Big-box sites such as this one centrally located within a dense mature market provide unique long-term investment opportunities through traditional means, such as serving as a gateway to welcome new tenants to the market,” said Meaden.
According to JLL’s 2019 US Grocery Tracker, investors remain bullish as grocery remains one of the resilient subsets of retail. Though the number of single-asset grocery transactions have declined 5.8% since 2016, the average price per square foot has increased 7.8% during that same period. In 2018, investment activity in grocery real estate product reached $9.9 billion.
“The site will be attractive to retailers relying on frequent repeat traffic and service tenants looking for a core location to serve this submarket. This property is in great hands,” Meaden tells GlobeSt.com.
Part of the Great Plains and the largest city in the Texas Panhandle, Amarillo had its beginnings in 1887 when the Fort Worth-Denver city railroad was constructed across the Texas Panhandle. Amarillo’s economy back then was closely tied to agriculture and the energy industry, according to the city’s economic development department.
These days, businesses such as copper refining, fiberglass production, meat packing, ordnance manufacturing, customer service operations and aircraft assembly operations have diversified the city’s economy. The city also serves as a regional medical center, which plays a key role in Amarillo’s economy. Today, Amarillo is home to 190,695 people, according to the 2010 Census.