An Atlanta-based developer has acquired the 44-year-old Foothill Village Shopping Center.
Gregory Greenfield & Associates bought the 270,000-square-foot community retail center this week for an undisclosed price. It's the firm's first entry into the Utah market.
"Foothill Village represents a great value enhancement opportunity," said Greg Greenfield, president of GG&A.
"We are very enthusiastic about the Salt Lake City market and believe that we can attract several exciting new tenants to the shopping center who will complement the strong group of retailers already in place."
The center is currently anchored by Dan's Foods and a ZCMI II store, which is scheduled to become a Meier & Frank store, a subsidiary of The May Co.
Spokeswoman Jane Benefield of GG&A said the firm bought the center from The Equitable Life Assurance Company of the United States.
She said the new owner has no plans to expand the complex or do major renovations, other than repair roofs and concrete. Foothill Village, located on Foothill Drive and 1300 South, has 1,000 parking stalls, 460 of them covered.
Foothill Village is currently 80 percent occupied with more than 50 merchants. Benefield said the company intends to go to work immediately to find tenants for the vacant space. Jones Lang LaSalle, a real estate services company also based in Georgia, will serve as manager and leasing agent of the property.
Benefield said all of the current tenants have leases in place so their rents will not be raised, at least until the current leases expire. She said it's too early so know which retailers they will solicit to occupy the vacant space.
Foothill Village underwent a $30 million renovation from 1985 to 1990 after it was acquired by developers John R. Thackeray and Armand D. Johansen in 1984. They lost the project in 1992 when The Equitable foreclosed on their $33 million mortgage and has owned it ever since.
The expansion of the center sparked an ugly and lengthy fight with east-side residents who feared the growth would destroy the quality of the neighborhood. The fight became so rancorous that in the summer of 1985 the Salt Lake City Council imposed a six-month moratorium on construction so both sides could cool down.
Eventually, the developers prevailed when the council voted in 1986 to rezone nearby land for commercial development. Ironically, the expanded project did not produce the revenues needed for the developers to pay their debt, and they lost the property.
Benefield said the firm was attracted to Salt Lake City in general and Foothill Village in particular.
"It's just in a great area, densely populated, where there's not a lot of retail around. It's a great little community center with a lot of potential."
GG&A was formed in late 1998. Its principals are former senior executives of Compass Retail Inc., one of the nation's largest mall managers and developers. Over the past 18 months, it has acquired six retail properties comprising 2.2 million square feet in projects across the United States.
You can reach Max Knudson by e-mail at max@desnews.com