In case you missed it, the Valley Voice newspaper recently reported the following story:
Developer Has Former Costco in Escrow
Big Hunting and Fishing Store Coming to Visalia?
Visalia - A Carlsbad California-based developer, Foursquare Properties, has the former Costco building on Mooney Blvd. in Visalia in escrow to purchase. “They are going through their due diligence phase,” says a city official who visited in Visalia with the representative of the company – Jonathan Hay whose office is in West Jordan, Utah.
Mr. Hay told the Voice he “could not disclose any information at this time” but suggested in a couple of weeks he might be able to say something.
The building – owned by Costco – is 115,000 square feet and sits adjacent the former Home Base building nearly the same size and also vacant. Costco left for its new location as of October 2007. Home Base closed its doors way back in 2001.
The vacancy has created a ghost town atmosphere in what was one of Visalia's busiest shopping centers in years past, anchored now only by Circuit City as a major draw for the rest of the mom and pop shops in the center.
Our source tells us the developer plans to “re-tenant” the big space with two or three retailers similar to what another developer did at the former Target building just to the north on Mooney. That former big box is now home to Jo-Ann's, DDs and Petco.
Developer Has Former Costco in Escrow
Big Hunting and Fishing Store Coming to Visalia?
Visalia - A Carlsbad California-based developer, Foursquare Properties, has the former Costco building on Mooney Blvd. in Visalia in escrow to purchase. “They are going through their due diligence phase,” says a city official who visited in Visalia with the representative of the company – Jonathan Hay whose office is in West Jordan, Utah.
Mr. Hay told the Voice he “could not disclose any information at this time” but suggested in a couple of weeks he might be able to say something.
The building – owned by Costco – is 115,000 square feet and sits adjacent the former Home Base building nearly the same size and also vacant. Costco left for its new location as of October 2007. Home Base closed its doors way back in 2001.
The vacancy has created a ghost town atmosphere in what was one of Visalia's busiest shopping centers in years past, anchored now only by Circuit City as a major draw for the rest of the mom and pop shops in the center.
Our source tells us the developer plans to “re-tenant” the big space with two or three retailers similar to what another developer did at the former Target building just to the north on Mooney. That former big box is now home to Jo-Ann's, DDs and Petco.
Outdoor Store Coming
An intriguing possibility is the close relationship between Foursquare and the big outdoor retailer Cabela, based in Nebraska.
Foursquare is the “preferred developer” for publicly traded Cabela and has worked on a handful of new stores for them including more than one former Costco building. In Yakima, Wash. they are building a 52,700-square-foot Cabela as one of the tenants in that town's former Costco building, according to press reports. That is much smaller than the typical Cabela superstore that are sometimes as large as 200,000 square feet, a massive hunting and fishing outlet along with all outdoor sports and one of the largest such chains in the U.S. Last summer the company indicated an interest in the same Visalia Costco property according to several accounts – one reported in the Voice. The company has recently opened a store in Reno and has been said to be interested in coming into California.
Sportsman's Warehouse Files Visalia Plan
In Visalia they would face competition from another Utah company – Sportsman's Warehouse – that has now filed building plans for a new 58,000-square-foot store at the new Target shopping center on the northside next to the sports park. That new Sportsman's store is expected to open next fall – the second location for the company in the state.
As for the development firm – Foursquare, the privately held company with office locations in California, Utah and Oregon, the firm was organized as a series of partnerships and controls over 4 million square feet of retail and office development in the U.S. – the largest of which is in Salt Lake City, a shopping center with 1.5 million square feet.
The Visalia city official told the Voice Mr. Hay was interested in what new retailers the town didn't have but wished they did that would help bring the mostly vacant shopping center back to life. Most of that center is owned by a California partnership that includes Save Mart owner Bob Picinini who owns the Home Base building and the rest of the center minus Costco. Real estate reps with that company say they would welcome another owner of the Costco building looking for tenants that could help the entire center.
In recent weeks the Voice reported that the former Broken Arrow pad in front of the center had been purchased by Caltrans.
Click here to visit Cabela's website.
