Albertson's confirmed late Tuesday that Logan-based real estate investor Dell Loy Hansen and his Wasatch Property Management are negotiating with the company to buy the former American Stores office tower on the corner of Main and Broadway in downtown Salt Lake City.
The Deseret News reported Tuesday that Hansen was the potential buyer, but Boise-based Albertson's, which inherited the 25-story building when it acquired American Stores in 1999, refused to confirm that fact by press deadlines Tuesday.
Later in the day, spokeswoman Jeanette Duwe said Hansen, whose major Salt Lake holdings include properties at the Woodland office park at 4001 S. 700 East, is the potential buyer.
Hansen confirmed Wednesday that he has signed a contract to buy the property but would not say whether it was at or below the estimated $95 million construction price.
"There is a confidentiality agreement with Albertson's that restricts us until certain events take place, but our target closing date is May 15," Hansen said.
The 620,000-square-foot facility has long been thought to be unsuitable for multiple tenants, built as it was for a single tenant, American Stores. Hansen said that's a myth.
"The building would be better as a tenancy headquarters that is leased in 'traunches,' meaning you would have an atrium and two floors above it," he said. "It's a natural grouping. It becomes a smaller building that way (with fewer leasable square feet), but it will function as a multi-tenant facility much like One Utah Center or Eagle Gate (two other downtown office buildings)."
The building currently is occupied by the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, First Security Bank and Sharmin Leasing, using what Hansen termed "minor footage." He said Apple Athletic Club would open in the building's main floor, formerly occupied by a grocery store, and also will open a gym at the Woodlands office park, another Wasatch-owned property.
Hansen said he could not comment on reports that Albertson's is negotiating with First Security Corp. as a tenant for the tower. "We are not intimately involved with that deal," he said.
First Security spokeswoman Jackelin Slack said she can't confirm that the bank would be taking space in the tower.
"We're still in an exploratory phase regarding our office space issues, and we're not ready to announce anything until those decisions are made," Slack said. "It's kind of an ongoing process right now."
First Security and Wells Fargo currently occupy three downtown office buildings on Main Street at 100, 200 and 400 South, but whether they will retain any or all of that space if they lease the American Stores tower is part of the discussion now going on within both companies.
First Security is operating and marketing itself as a separate entity from Wells Fargo until the merger is completed later this year.
It's possible that the merged First Security/Wells Fargo could fit nicely into the tower now owned by Albertson's, which was planned and built for a single tenant, the headquarters of American Stores.
The gleaming, state-of-the-art tower had been open only three months and its 1,900 employees were still moving in when American Stores announced in August 1998 that it would be acquired by Albertson's in a deal valued at $11.7 billion.
E-MAIL: max@desnews.com