Brickyard Plaza, the 23-acre shopping center at 1300 East and 3200 South that has been in and out of foreclosure almost since its opening in 1979, is being sold again as its current owner goes out of business.
Burnham Pacific Properties Inc., a real estate investment trust (REIT) based in San Diego, said Brickyard is one of 18 properties it has agreed to sell to Pacific Retail L.P., which is owned by affiliates of P.O'B. Montgomery & Co., a management firm based in Dallas that specializes in owning and operating retail centers, and its partner, Apollo Real Estate Advisors.
Pacific Retail will pay $158 million for the 18 properties, which total 1.725 million square feet of space. No separate price for Brickyard Plaza was available.
Burnham Pacific is selling all of its properties under a liquidation plan approved by shareholders last December. Proceeds from the sale will be used against Pacific Retail's debt and to make distributions to shareholders in the REIT, assuming there is sufficient cash remaining to pay them a minimum of 25 cents per share. If not, no distribution to shareholders will be made.
P.O'B. Montgomery and Apollo currently operate 18 shopping centers in the United States (separate from the 18 they are buying from Burnham Pacific).
Brickyard Plaza has struggled since its opening 22 years ago as one tenant after another has come and gone, including retail chains Phar-Mor Drugs, Lionel Playworld and Ernst Home Centers, all of which went bankrupt and no longer exist.
Salt Lake-based developer The Boyer Co. bought Brickyard in 1992 and invested $12.5 million in it but later sold the complex.
Only Mervyn's Department Store has been a constant presence at the center, built on the site of the old Interstate Brick plant.
The inability of the complex to thrive has long frustrated owners and tenants because no one disputes that the demographics of the area seem ideal for a shopping center, although the revitalization of the Sugar House business district a dozen blocks north has increased local competition for shoppers' dollars.
Brickyard Plaza falls within the boundaries of Salt Lake City through what critics have termed "cherry-stem annexation" following the center's construction.
In addition to Mervyn's, current Brickyard tenants include Media Play, Fantastic Sam's, Norwest Financial, Parents Without Partners, Universal Systems Inc. and Brickyard Plaza Storage.
E-mail: max@desnews.com