Business First of Louisville - October 7, 2005 by Brett Corbin Business First Staff Writer
After sitting mostly vacant since Bigg's Hypermarket closed in 2000, Middletown Station finally has a big-box retail anchor tenant to fill the void.
After more than nine months of negotiations with Hagan Properties Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has agreed to purchase 20.4 acres of the 60-acre Middletown Station land from Middletown Partners LLC. Hagan Properties manages the 60 acres for Middletown Partners.
The majority owner of Middletown Partners is Scott Hagan, chairman of Hagan Properties. Gas station included in development
Plans obtained by Business First for Middletown Station call for the world's largest retailer to build a 207,000-square-foot, free-standing "supercenter," with a Wal-Mart fueling station in the eastern corner of the 1,000-space parking lot.
Terms of the agreement between Wal-Mart and Hagan were not disclosed. The terms still must be approved by a real estate committee at Wal-Mart headquarters in Arkansas.
Kevin Flanery, president of Hagan Properties, a Louisville-based real estate management firm, said the timeline now consists of Wal-Mart breaking ground on the location in the first quarter of 2006, with the building to be completed five to six months after construction begins.
But before Wal-Mart can begin building, about 75 percent of the former Bigg's building will be torn down to clear a space for Wal-Mart to build a facility to its specifications.
After demolition, that will leave about 100,000 square feet of the original Bigg's building that still will belong to Middletown Partners, with Hagan Properties as the manager. Flanery said the building that is left will be refitted with a new facade.
Estimates on how much the demolition and facade replacement will cost were not available, Flanery said, given the early stage of the project.
The current tenants in Middletown Station are Burlington Coat Factory, which occupies 64,000 square feet, and Hagan Properties, which has 7,400 square feet of office space.
The 100,000 square feet or so of space that is left over after the demolition will be available for Burlington.
More buildings for other tenants are planned as other tenants are signed. Development to resemble outdoor mall
Flanery said the entire 60-acre site known as Middletown Station will look very different than it does now.
He said eventual development will resemble an outdoor mall similar to Shelbyville Road Plaza, as opposed to the current enclosed mall space that was occupied by Bigg's and other, smaller retailers.
Hagan Properties also redeveloped Shelbyville Road Plaza.
About the same time the Wal-Mart building should be completed, Flanery said, a 12,000-square-foot spec building on the western side of the Hagan property will be completed.
No tenant has been signed yet for that building, but it would be suitable for a bank.
And there will be room for other tenants as well.
The final plans for the refurbished Middletown Station call for about 500,000 square feet of retail space, including smaller, free-standing Hagan properties closer to Shelbyville Road.
There also is a string of retail locations that border Shelbyville Road but are not owned by Hagan Properties.
"This plan contemplates three large-format retailers," said Mark Sneed, a senior retail developer with Hagan Properties. But he added that the property has space for six large retailers.
"With a typical center like this, you'd expect home improvement stores, office supply stores, pet-supply super stores, off-price apparel stores" to be attracted to the site, he said. "And those kinds of tenants will be our target tenants."
He said the space also would be a good fit for Burlington.
"We are optimistic they'll want to remain here," Sneed said about Burlington. Area's demographics are strong
The current demographics around Middletown Station give strong indications that the development will be a success, Flanery said.
Bigg's might have been too early, Flanery said, because development and demographics have improved significantly in the past two or three years, making the success of a Wal-Mart very likely.
The last traffic count study was performed in 2001, and development in the area hasn't slowed since then.
The 2001 traffic study found that 314,000 people live in a 10-mile radius of Middletown Station. And the study estimated that 31,500 cars passed the shopping complex each day. Middletown Mayor happy to have tenant
Residents in Middletown often have asked Middletown Mayor Byron Chapman about filling the space left when
Bigg's closed. The constant questions were stressful, Chapman said.
"My response was, 'Believe me, everybody is working as hard as they can,' " Chapman said. "The truth of the matter is that once an area goes down, it continues to go down."
With the announcement of a new tenant, Chapman said, he would like to see a development with a facade that varies in height and appearance to avoid the commonly complained about look of a big-box retailer.
(Renderings posted on the Hagan Properties Web site, www.haganpropertiesinc.com, show the kind of dynamic appearance that Chapman described. Such a look also was used by the new Wal-Mart at the former Bashford Manor Mall site.)
Chapman added that he thinks Wal-Mart's wide variety of inventory will appeal to residents in the area because there isn't a big-box retailer nearby. Success in Middletown would be third for Hagan
If successful, this will be the third time that a Scott Hagan company has brought new tenants and a new look to a lackluster retail location.
Hagan Properties was formed in the summer of 2004, after Hagan and long-time development partner Benton Seay parted ways in an amicable split.
Before the split, the partners' former company, Hagan Seay Properties Inc., was successful in redeveloping the Shelbyville Road Plaza in St. Matthews and Jeffersontown Commons at 9501 Taylorsville Road.
As part of the split, Scott Hagan, as majority owner of Middletown Partners, purchased Seay's portion of Middletown Station.
And as majority owner of Shelbyville Road Plaza LLC, Hagan also bought Seay's portion of Shelbyville Road Plaza.
Seay now runs Seay Properties LLC and focuses on leasing and managing smaller commercial properties.
Contact the writer via e-mail at bcorbin@bizjournals.com.