Shoppers were sad to find the Skillman Abrams Tom Thumb closed in June of 2013, and surprised when the space remained vacant for 3 years.
Finally, there’s movement.
The center was purchased by Retail Plazas Inc. (RPI) of Dallas in February. RPI’s specialty is acquiring centers with vacancies and below market rental rates and making them profitable. Tenants featured on their website include Burlington Coat Factory, Tuesday Morning, Hobby Lobby and Big Lots.
“Our plan is to sign the anchor tenant first,” says RPI owner Jeff Olyan, “and we’re pretty close with somebody now.” Several stores have expressed interest, he says, and once the Tom Thumb space is signed, the other dominos will fall.
“This will be a major game changer for that intersection,” says Mark Hajdu, owner of the property’s new leasing company, Triumph. “I live in Merriman Park Estates, so I have a very vested interest. We’ve got some exciting changes coming.”
“Three significant restaurants are ready to sign when the anchor tenant closes,” says Hajdu, a restauranteur himself (Hajdu owns Lakewood’s 1st and Ten). One is a breakfast, one is seafood, and one I would describe as Asian fusion. It’s not done ‘til it’s done, but we’ve met with our City Councilman, it’s already zoned and it has enough parking, so we are ready to go.”
An influx of new restaurant options can’t come soon enough, says Hajdu.
“I’m as sick of going to the same couple of restaurants as all my neighbors are. When this center fills up, I’ll be the happiest person of anyone.”
We’ll let you know here on the blog when RPI announces their first new tenant.