Foothill Village, Utah's first large-scale shopping center, will soon be in the hands of local owners.
Jim Gaddis of Gaddis Investments confirmed that he and John Thackeray of Johansen Thackeray & Co., via JTJG Foothill Village LC, will be majority owners of the 275,000-square-foot shopping complex. Atlanta-based Gregory Greenfield & Associates has agreed to sell the property, located at 1400 S. Foothill Blvd., to JTJG for an estimated $30 million. The sale is expected to close in early January, Gaddis said.
"I think Foothill Village is a uniquely situated property in Salt Lake," he said. "It's very well-known and may be immune from a lot of competition because of its location. It also has a lot of very good tenants and a good tenant mix."
Foothill's 70 tenants include Bath & Body Works, D. Grant Ltd., Frost's Books and Dan's Foods. The complex also houses medical and dental offices, financial advisers and restaurants.
Thackeray owned the shopping center from 1985 to 1992. When the property made its way to the market again, "we jumped at it," he said.
Gaddis and Thackeray say there likely won't be many drastic changes when they take the helm, but both say there are exciting possibilities for improvement.
"I think one mistake the current management made is that they used an out-of-state leasing agent," Thackeray said. "They missed out on a lot of the local merchants that could have fit in really nicely there. We think that we have a good feel for how to fill some of those holes."
The Foothill acquisition brings another mall under local control. In the past 25 months, the Crossroads Plaza shopping center was purchased by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which already owned the ZCMI Center. The Boyer Co., which also developed the Brickyard Plaza with Johansen Thackeray, launched The Gateway in 2001. Other Wasatch Front malls — including South Towne Center, Provo Towne Centre, Cottonwood Mall, Trolley Square and Fashion Place — are owned and/or operated by out-of-state organizations.
Assuming the successful closure of the Foothill sale, property management responsibilities will be shared by Johansen Thackeray and Perfect Circle Property Management. Leasing will be handled by Prime Commercial and Colliers Commerce CRG.
E-mail: jnii@desnews.com