Detroit’s Bel Air Centre headed for auction
Have a million dollars? Why not buy a shopping center?
The Bel Air Centre, a 341,994 square-foot shopping center located between Conner Street and Eight Mile Road on Detroit’s east side, will be going up for auction next month.
Auction.com and Newmark Grubb Knight Frank are hosting the auction, which is scheduled to begin on April 14 and continue until April 16. The starting bid is listed at $1.1 million, with a deposit of $10,000.
The site is located at 8500-10100 East Eight Mile Road on border of Detroit and Warren.
The website said financing is available for purchasing the center, which sits on 36.6 acres that was first developed in 1985. The site includes four single-story buildings that are already 91.2 percent occupied, according to the listing. Combined, the shopping center has an operating income of $913,010 annually, the site says.
“This rare offering combines stable income from a long-term anchor tenant with the value added opportunity to lease up the available 30,000 square feet of space,” the auction.com page says.
Forman Mills, a discount clothing store, takes up 46,679 square-feet on the site, which includes the Bel Air 10 Theater and Romeo and Juliet Furniture.
The property got some attention in 2010, when it was purchased by a group that included entrepreneur Tom Sullivan, the founder of Lumber Liquidators and Cabinets-To-Go. The group opened up the 8 Mile Trade Center, a nearly 100,000 square-foot indoor trade center and marketplace, which has since closed.
In 2013, the shopping center was sold to Namdar Realty Group LLC out of Great Neck, New York.
Brandon Hakimi, Namdar’s director of Acquisitions and dispositions, said that “Detroit is a tough market,” but just because the company is putting the center up for auction doesn’t mean it is in distress.
“We put properties out there sometimes because we’re constantly buying properties. It’s always nice to move some assets, open up some cash,” he said. “We have a philosophy: Everything has a price.”
According to its website, Namdar also owns shopping centers in Holland, Flint, Lansing and Richmond.
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