Longstanding Fairview Heights shopping complex put up for auction

By RANDY PIERCE
[email protected]

One of Fairview Heights’ longest standing retail shopping complexes, known as Marketplace, has been made available for ownership through an online auction that was scheduled to occur this week.

Having been constructed in 1987 between North Ruby Lane and the northernmost part of Commerce Lane, Marketplace, considered as a potentially prosperous location because of its visibility from Interstate 64, has been anchored by the Best Buy store since 1994.

In reporting to the city council community committee development committee last month, Fairview Heights Land Use and Development Director Dallas Alley shared information about the pending auction, set to take place from Monday, Feb. 10, through Wednesday, Feb. 12, but had pledged, at the request of the business interests conducting the sale, not to share some of the details connected with it.

“I am very encouraged,” Alley commented at that time. “I think that we’ve got a good opportunity to redevelop that area.”

Last year, the city approved the relocation of the Burlington clothing and Golf Galaxy retail stores from Marketplace to space further to the east where Bed, Bath and Beyond had been operating off North Illinois Street before it closed.

The CBRE Inc. group, referring to itself as the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm, which is based in Dallas, Texas, and an online commercial real estate auction entity called, somewhat ironically, RealInsight Marketplace, have partnered to administer the auction of the property while setting the starting bid at $1.25 million.

Alley explained to the city council members on the development committee he had a lot of information related to this matter but was required to sign “a non-disclosure” document about it, prohibiting him from making copies of those details that he could share.

CBRE, he added, “has decided they can’t sit late any longer so they’re auctioning that property off.”

Noting that he is optimistic about the quality of individuals who have been contacting his department about this situation, Alley said he has had communication with several developers who expressed interest in and/or had questions about the property.

“We do know that there are some not-so-good players in the commercial real estate world,” Alley went on, “so it’s our role to make sure we get a good quality developer to come in there and redevelop that property.”

Estimating that he has learned of “20 different ideas” for what can be done at this center, Alley said all of the development representatives he has talked with agree it is a great site with considerable potential.

With plans to follow the auction process along with the city’s director of economic development, Heather Hinson, Alley said it has been set up so that the property owner can communicate about the possibility of extending the deadline for bids or the reduction of a bid, adding, “There’s a lot of things that can happen at the last minute so we’ll watch it very closely.”

The property to be sold this way comprises 19.09 acres and covers 210,489 square feet including a parking lot with 981 spaces but a current occupancy level, according to figures on the applicable web site, of only 41.5 per cent.

Along with Best Buy, its tenants have included Dollar Tree, David’s Bridal, Citi Trends and, long since gone from there, Payless, a shoe retailer, among others.

The auction verbiage designed to entice bidders by touting this site as a wise investment says it “has a long history of success with occupancy and NOI (net operating income) averaging 82 per cent and $1,009,489, respectively, over the last seven years (2017-2024 excluding 2022 which is not in our possession).”

Up to 110,182 square feet of space is available for lease at this center, according to that same report, presenting investors with the potential for more income from tenants.

The Marketplace center is located within a Fairview Heights Tax Increment Financing district and state-authorized enterprise zone, both of which provide developers with financial incentives to upgrade and improve the property.

Further promoting this center by the auction interests are statements citing how it is located not far from the region’s “third highest performing regional mall (St. Clair Square)” while having a trade area that attracts shoppers from a 116-square-mile area of close to 300,000 residents with an average household income of $72,481. Additionally, that information notes there are 112,944 people within a five-mile radius with an average household income of over $104,000 annually.

There are 73,000 vehicles per day passing by Marketplace on Interstate 64, according to CBRE Inc. which further states the property’s fair market value is $9,206,758 while adding it anticipates incoming investors will be bidding below that amount.

Golf Galaxy, as pointed out in the same presentation of specific details, has exercised an option to extend its Marketplace lease through July of this year prior to its pending relocation as mentioned previously.

Compared to existing large retail shopping complexes in Fairview Heights, Marketplace has been present in the city longer than only two others, St. Clair Square and the Crossroads Centre.

 

Randy Pierce is a reporter with Herald Publications, part of the Better Newspapers Inc. media family.