Dee's Inc. has sold five of its Dee's Family Restaurant locations in the Salt Lake area to the Phillips Edison Group, a commercial real estate developer.
Details of the transaction were not disclosed.
According to Dave Winnie, an associate broker with InterNet Properties Inc., which represented Phillips Edison, the sale closed Tuesday. The transaction included the Dee's restaurants at 7209 S. State, 685 E. Union Square, 505 E. 400 South, 855 W. North Temple and 4800 S. Highland Drive.
Phillips Edison's plans for the five locations were not disclosed Wednesday. Company representatives could not be reached for comment.
According to the Phillips Edison Web site, the company was founded in 1990 and operates offices in Salt Lake City, Cincinnati and Baltimore. Its commercial real estate portfolio includes 67 properties totaling more than 8 million square feet.
Seven Dee's Family Restaurants remain in Utah, according to Mike Olsen, president of Dee's.
"Our plan is to continue to serve the people of Utah," he said Wednesday. "We're planning to upgrade and expand, and this (transaction) gives us the opportunity to do those things."
The deal was attractive to Dee's "because even though these were good restaurants for us, the property value underneath the restaurants became more valuable" than the restaurants themselves, Olsen said.
"It became more valuable to sell and use the money to diversify into more locations and more commercial space than it was to maintain the restaurants," he said.
Dee's opened its first Salt Lake restaurant in 1931. The company later became Dee's Family Restaurants. Today, Olsen said Dee's is involved in shopping center and other commercial development, as well.
"We're not going anywhere," Olsen said. "We've been in business for almost 75 years in Utah, and we're dedicated to staying here and even expanding when we find the right locations and opportunities.
"Dee's will be better than ever."
E-mail: jnii@desnews.com