Garden Ridge Store
July 1, 2012, Phoenix, Arizona. Darren Pitts, Executive Vice President of Velocity Retail Group, represented Garden Ridge on their first store in the western United States. “The first location for Garden Ridge in the Arizona marketplace is the acquisition of a 163,892-square-foot facility at the northwest corner of Baseline Road and Greenfield Road in Mesa, Arizona,” said Pitts. “The building was originally built for K-Mart but was never occupied until American Home Furnishings occupied it for several years before their stores in the Valley closed. At 163,892 square feet, the new store will be one of the largest stores in the Garden Ridge chain nationally,” he added.The acquisition represents the one of the single largest retail building sales in the Valley of the Sun since 2006. Velocity Retail Group represented Garden Ridge in the transaction, while Michael Hackett and Ryan Schubert of Cassidy Turley / BRE Commercial represented the Seller–AHF Partners, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company–through the court-appointed receiver Trident Pacific Real Estate Group, Inc.
Garden Ridge is a megastore retailer that offers decorating items for more than just the garden. Considered the “home décor depot,” Garden Ridge stores sell about 500,000 decorating items such as seasonal décor, framed art, baskets, silk and dried flowers and arrangements, furniture, home textiles, and pottery, as well as crafts and party supplies.
Garden Ridge’s Vice President of Real Estate, Patrick Willis, said, “We are pleased to be entering the Arizona market with our retail concept after several years of analysis of the marketplace. The store is unlike any other retailer currently in the market with so many home decorating options under one roof,” said Willis. “While Phoenix has experienced a significant housing correction, we strongly believe in Phoenix’s underlying fundamentals and its future growth as a leading sunbelt state. With attractive big-box pricing in today’s marketplace, we look forward to growing our brand in Phoenix with multiple regional locations.”
The chain has 52 existing stores, each covering some 3 acres and mostly located off major highways in about 18 states from Florida to Michigan. Its corporate headquarters are located outside Houston in Katy, Texas, with 17 current locations in its home state. The company began as a single store outside of San Antonio in 1979 and is owned by an investment group led by the New York-based private equity firm Three Cities Research.
Garden Ridge prototypical size ranges from 120,000 to 150,000 square feet. They have historically expanded through the leasing or acquisition of second-generation retail facilities and will be looking to expand their presence in the Arizona marketplace.
For more information about Garden Ridge’s expansion in Arizona, contact Darren Pitts at 602-682-6050 or via e-mail at darren.pitts@velocityretail.com.
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Darren Pitts Darren Pitts is a widely recognized and respected expert in the retail real estate industry. With more than 15 years of experience as an award-winning, elite performer and Senior Vice President at both CB Richard Ellis and Staubach Retail, he has streamlined his multi-market knowledge across the West, primarily focusing on big-box clients like Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse, JCPenney, Lifetime Fitness, and others. Darren was instrumental in leading and executing a 60 store rollout of CVS as well as implementing an expansion program of more than 30 branches with JP Morgan Chase. He is particularly known for his ability to identify invisible real estate and accelerate a client’s speed to market. |