Winn-Dixie property owner looking for a new lessee
By Dennis Hill
Published in News on September 22, 2005 1:48 PM
The owner of the former Winn-Dixie store in Ashley Plaza on Berkeley Boulevard said he has some potential tenants considering leasing the 37,390-foot building.
The store closed several weeks ago, one of three Winn-Dixie stores in Wayne County that closed when the grocery giant shut down all its North Carolina properties in a massive consolidation move.
The former Winn-Dixie on Wayne Memorial Drive was bought by Southern Family Markets, which reopened the store several weeks ago. The former Winn-Dixie at the Neuse River Shopping Center has been bought by an independent grocer, which will be reopening it as an IGA, workmen at the site said.
Colin Campbell of Campbell Real Estate in Valrico, Fla., owns the Ashley Plaza building. He said Wednesday that he plans to lease the store, not sell it, and that he has talked with several companies interested in the location, which is being advertised on the Internet.
"We do have some folks we are working with," he said, but added that it would be premature to name the companies.
He said he would like to keep the building as a grocery store, "but we're always looking at other options."
Campbell manages more than a million square feet of retail and office properties in five states, including in Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey and Mississippi,as well as North Carolina.
The Web site advertising the Ashley Street location notes its proximity to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base and the other tenant businesses in Ashley Plaza, including Big Kmart, Chuck E Cheese, Beneficial Finance, Simply Fashions, Rent America, CD Warehouse, Shoe Show and Super Star Nails. Out parcels are listed as SunCom PCS, Mazatlan Restaurant and USA Petroleum.
It also includes a site plan and photographs.
The site reports the population within three miles of the store as 47,292, within five miles as 63,150 and within 10 miles as 95,167. The median income in the area is listed as $31,740.
Meanwhile, the store is selling off many of its fixtures at bargain-basement prices, as low as 50 percent off. Walk-in coolers are not considered fixtures, but part of the real estate, said workers at the store.