A retail building on Old Hammond Highway near the entrance to The Woodlands Subdivision has been sold. The 25,300-square-foot, single-story shopping center was sold to Pineda Properties for $1.3 million, or about $51 per square foot. Bill Jeansonne and Justin Langlois with Sealy & Falgoust Real Estate brokered the transaction. The purchasers intend to rehabilitate the center and occupy it with a small grocery/convenience store and a restaurant. The property was owned by American Gateway Bank and had been occupied by Dollars-N-Cents, a discount store, and Fetter’s Cleaners. According to Jeansonne, a significant amount of space was vacant at the time of purchase, which was conducive to the owners operating their own restaurant and convenience store in the center. The sale closed last week. Rehabilitation should take place shortly.
—Recently, I reported that the Ascension Plaza Shopping Center, which was developed by Donnie Jarreau, Collier Thornton and Chris Dozier, had sold their front 3,400-square-foot building occupied by Papa John’s Pizza and Game Stop, just south of the Super Wal-Mart in Gonzales. I spoke with Dozier about falling rental rates in retail centers, and he says he had relatively strong activity in the Ascension Plaza. They retained the rear 24,300-square-foot building and have leased 7,000-square-feet to Hello Sushi. Cox Communications just opened their first digital store in the center. Dozier says the lease rates were in line with what had been being paid last year, and that leasing activity for the rest of the vacancies was good, and most of the vacant space either had letters of intent or leases circulating for the rest of the space. All of the new tenants were either more relocations of tenants within the market or national franchise users. Dozier says overall leasing at all six of the shopping centers he is associated with has been better in the last 45 days than in the previous year.
(Appraiser Tom Cook owns Cook Moore and Associates. Reach him at 293-7006 or TCook@cookmoore.com.)
