HERMITAGE Wal-Mart gets no bids for building

The company plans to open a larger store.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
HERMITAGE, Pa. -- Wal-Mart didn't get any bids in its initial effort to sell its store at 3300 Shenango Valley Freeway, but that doesn't mean there's no interest in the property.
The company plans to open a 207,000-square-foot Supercenter on Pa. Route 18 about 1.5 miles north of the freeway location and is trying to find a buyer for the freeway property before the new store opens around June 2005.
Wal-Mart is using CB Richard Ellis, a Texas-based national commercial and industrial real estate sales and leasing company, to market the store, and had set March 8 as the deadline for submission of bids.
Wal-Mart's asking price is $3,692,000 on the 114,513-square-foot building built in 1991. The sale price includes 13.55 acres with a parking lot that can accommodate 753 vehicles.
John Bisio, Wal-Mart's community affairs manager for Pennsylvania, said there have been expressions of interest in the property, but no bids were submitted by the deadline.
He said he isn't discouraged, however.
The building has been on the market for only a short period, and it won't even be available until at least mid-2005, he said, explaining that the sales effort will continue.
Countering rumors
There were rumors that Wal-Mart wouldn't sell the property to another retailer that might provide competition, but Bisio said that isn't true.
There are no restrictions placed on the sale, he said.
City officials, concerned that the opening of a Supercenter might leave the city with an empty big-box store on the freeway, said they had been told the freeway building already had been sold.
Bisio said he doesn't know where that report originated.
Don Sebastian, owner of Sebastian Real Estate of Hermitage, which deals with commercial properties, is the local agent for CB Richard Ellis in the marketing of the Wal-Mart property.
"There has been a lot of interest in that building," he said, adding that a local company had proposed buying it for its own use. That deal fell through when the company owner died.
There also were offers made before the building was actually placed on the market, but they weren't accepted, Sebastian said.
Who buys stores
A building that size is usually bought by a developer who has a particular project in mind, he said. The structure could easily be divided up to house more than one business, he said.
Bisio said other vacant Wal-Mart stores have been sold to Lowe's, Office Max, Home Depot, Best Buy, Old Navy and other retailers.
It's in Wal-Mart's best interest to sell or lease the building rather than leave it sitting empty, he said.
The company still has to maintain the property and pay taxes on it, even if it is vacant, he added.
It may take some time to sell the property, said Richard English, a Sharon-based appraiser of commercial, industrial, residential and institutional property.
Demand for a big-box space like that is limited to certain large retailers, he said. "It's not going to be an easy sale," he added.
Other vacant spots
There's already some empty big-box store space available in the immediate area, he said, referring to the former Hills Department Store in nearby Hermitage Hills Plaza.
There's also space available in the former Stambaugh store in that same plaza and in Hermitage Towne Plaza on East State Street, English said.
"It's a matter of supply and demand," English said, adding, "There's probably a market for anything, depending on the price."
The nearly $3.7 million Wal-Mart is asking for its building would appear to be appropriate for vacant big-box space, "but the market will determine what it's worth," he said.
There are people out there who will buy it, said Chuck Bestwick, president of Harshaw's Real Estate Inc., a local company.
It's a stand-alone building, not part of a plaza, so Wal-Mart will have to find a business that can survive as a stand-alone operation, Bestwick said.
Need for renovations?
The building could be adapted to house multiple tenants, but that would require some extensive renovations to the interior and the addition of storefronts, he said.
The property is zoned for commercial use; any other type of company seeking to locate there would likely face a fight from neighbors who would oppose a change in the property's use, Bestwick added.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., located in Bentonville, Ark., also is in charge of Sam's Club stores. A large Sam's Club building in Boardman Township on South Avenue remains for sale. That building closed when a Super Sam's Club was constructed on another South Avenue parcel.
Company plans also call for eventually closing a Sam's Club in Niles in the Eastwood Mall complex and moving to a proposed larger building in Howland Township.