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Jennifer Heth lifts her daughter, Rachael, 2, as Samuel Gray loads groceries into her car outside Ukrop's. |
BY BILL FREEHLING
The closing of the Ukrop's grocery store in Spotsylvania County will likely hurt the performance of smaller nearby businesses, and it could prove difficult to get another tenant into the 63,000-square-foot space.
That's the consensus of a few area real estate investors reacting to the news that Ukrop's would be closing the store at 4250 Plank Road.
"It will hurt us big-time," said Bill Jones, a Gainesville-based real estate investor who with his wife, Christine, owns the 35,000-square-foot strip shopping center right next to Ukrop's. "It's a big deal."
Jones' center includes Kybecca, Laziza, Anytime Fitness, Fantastic Sams, Quality Carpet, a nail salon and a tanning business that Jones operates. He said Ukrop's has been a good neighbor and will be missed.
Kybecca part-owner Rebecca Thomas Snyder noted that Ukrop's is the anchor store in that center, and with it going she'll have to evaluate her options for remaining there. Kybecca also has a wine bar and shop in downtown Fredericksburg.
Ukrop's announced last week that Giant-Carlisle, a division of Ahold USA, was buying the Richmond-based grocery chain for $140 million. But the purchase did not include the Spotsylvania Ukrop's, and the grocer said it would close the store in the first quarter of 2010.
Ukrop's hasn't announced an exact closing date, but the First Market Bank branch inside the store will close March 22. The bank sent out a letter to customers this week directing them to the next closest branch in the Twin Lakes area off U.S. 1 in Fredericksburg. First Market is being merged into Union Bank & Trust in a deal expected to close early next year, which will give First Market customers more branch locations. First Market employees at the Ukrop's branch will be transferred.
The owner of the 63,000-square-foot building in which Ukrop's operates is New York-based real estate investment trust Cedar Shopping Centers Inc.
Cedar officials couldn't be reached for comment on how much longer the Ukrop's lease lasts, and a Ukrop's spokeswoman did not provide the information.
It could prove challenging to get a new tenant in the space Ukrop's now occupies, said Jud Honaker, president of commercial development for the Silver Cos., which sold the building to Cedar a few years ago.
Honaker noted that retailers have pulled back amid the economic downturn. He said the Ukrop's space could be attractive to a grocery store entering the Fredericksburg market for the first time, or possibly to a furniture business. But he said there are already a good number of furniture stores in that area.
Maryland-based Regency Furniture has said it will open a store inside the old Winn-Dixie store near the Ukrop's site. The Winn-Dixie store closed in 2000, less than three years after opening, and the property sat vacant until Regency started work this year on its new store.
Bill Freehling: 540/374-5405
Email: bfreehling@freelancestar.com
