Pleasanton, Calif.-based ACRE Investment Company sold the former Albertsons/Haggen grocery store in Tacoma for $13.5 million in a deal that closed April 11th. The buyer was T24, LLC, associated with a Douglasville, GA address, which will be converting the property into a 24-Hour Fitness with plans to open soon, according to Ryan Kurth with Wells Fargo Real Estate.
Located at 111 S. 38th St., the four-acre site built in 2003 offers 44,647 square feet, according to a Kidder Mathews flyer for the property dated January 20, 2016. The flyer also lists Walgreens as a co-anchor of the site.
The grocery store, along with a number of Albertsons/Haggen stores have been at the center of a number of legal battles. Haggen was purchased by Florida private equity firm Comvest Partners in 2011 and then in December 2014, Haggen purchased 146 West Coast Albertsons/Safeway stores after the two grocery chains merged. But Haggen was unable to convert the stores successfully, resulting in lawsuits from both Haggen and Albertsons for damages.
Albertsons later purchased Haggen’s 29 core stores for about $106.2 million in June of 2015 in bankruptcy court. The former Tacoma grocery store has been vacant since. A number of other Albertsons/Haggen grocery stores were affected across the state and down the West Coast.
According to a first quarter 2015 report from Kidder Mathews on the Seattle retail market, the Albertsons/Safeway merger was completed at that time, and Haggen purchased the 146 stores. “In Washington, 26 stores with almost 1.3 million square feet will be converted. Most of these will become Haggen stores but a few will become Country Markets. This does not represent any net absorption as these are all currently operating. However, it will broaden the pool of potential food store anchors,” stated the report.
Additionally, a fourth quarter of 2015 Kidder Mathews report stated, “The biggest story of 2015 is the pullback of Haggen from its aggressive expansion. The food store chain took on 146 stores from Albertsons and Safeway. Less than one year later it closed 15 of the 26 stores in Washington and another 12 of the 20 stores in Oregon. These range from older to newer stores. The impact to vacancy will be minimal because Albertsons reacquired most of these through a bankruptcy approved auction and is rebranding to the original chain, Safeway or Albertsons.”
