Sign change at vacant Kmart doesn’t mean site sold
by Michael Clancy – Jul. 3, 2009 07:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Talks are continuing with national retailers interested in purchasing the vacant building and site formerly occupied by Kmart at Cactus Road and the Piestewa Freeway.
Mike Polachek of SRS Real Estate Partners said nothing has been wrapped up, however.
Rumors began to spread in the neighborhood when signs on the vacant 150,000-square-foot building changed recently, but Polachek said the change was a result of a business merger between RED Realty Advisers, featured on the old signs, and SRS. Polachek is executive vice president of SRS, a similar position to the one he held with RED.
Polachek said he recently returned from Chicago, where he met with officials of Sears Holdings Corp., which owns Kmart and the Phoenix property.
“We have a retail deal that has a shot at being made,” Polachek said. “But we are still a long ways apart.”
He did not provide a price. He previously said that a price is negotiable. The property is assessed at close to $13 million.
The building was vacated in January when the Kmart store closed. The building is just eight years old, and it is one of the largest vacant locations in northeast Phoenix. Because of its size, it could be broken up into two or more stores.
Kmart has been at the corner since at least 1974, but Paradise Valley Mall and its satellite stores sapped much of the business when it opened just four years later. Recently, a direct competitor, Walmart, opened a few miles east on Cactus Road near the mall.