Austin retail real estate broker Will Majors has some major league deals in play.
The senior vice president with SRS Real Estate Partners is marketing the former Walmart on RR 620 in far Northwest Austin and the former SuperTarget store at Tech Ridge in North Austin. Both stores closed in January, the victims of poor sales.
In a market area where retail space is at a premium, Majors is representing 400,000 square feet of retail space in those two properties alone.
Majors told me this week that interest is brisk, though it will take some creative thinking to convert the acquisitions into long-term viable investments.
“I expect to get best and final offers on the Walmart in the next 10 days, and that we’ll have both properties under contract in two to three weeks,” Majors said.
The vacant stores present two very different opportunities.
The 220,200-square foot Walmart, which was built in 2006, sits on almost 40 acres in an affluent area a few minutes drive from Mansfield Dam on Lake Travis. The new Concordia University campus is adjacent to the site, which is owned by Walmart’s business trust.
Being situated on its own island of sorts, the options could be radically divergent.
“I believe whoever buys it will pursue another type of use,” Majors said.
The property, located at 8201 N. RR 620, is priced at $10,950,000. The Travis Central Appraisal District most recently valued it at $17,363,615.
Meanwhile, the vacant Target property at the northeast corner of I-35 and Parmer Lane presents fewer possibilities.
“Target is part of a larger retail center and because of that operating agreement there are more limitations,” Majors said. “It must remain retail.”
The 171,308-square-foot store, which is owned by Target Corp. and built in 2003, sits on 17 acres and is priced at $7.9 million. The Travis Central Appraisal District most recently valued the property at $15,692,993.
Majors relishes the dynamics of selling the two properties at a time when retail vacancies have dropped below 4 percent across the metro area.
“It’s very rare that you have that much anchor retail space available at any given time,” he said.
Majors has help landing a buyer. TJ Powell of SRS is partnering on the Target property, and Ryan Hoff, also with SRS, is teaming up on the Walmart site.