News Room
Guilford Mills site to get new life as retail
By Lanita Withers - Greensboro News Record
March 4, 2008
GREENSBORO - It used to be a bustling textile mill until it fell on hard times.Now, newly announced plans for the former Guilford Mills site will turn it into a place where customers could go buy the latest threads.
California-based Tower Investments has bought the vacant mill property off Hornaday Road in western Greensboro and plans to eventually raze the building and use the land for a retail development. best replica watches
"With great visibility from the freeway and the neighboring presence of a healthy retail sector just off Wendover Avenue, this site is ideal for a well-planned retail development," said Matt Marks, a senior vice president for the real estate investment company.
Tower bought the property - which is close to Business 40, Interstate 40 and the new I-840 Urban Loop - for about $4.6 million, according to tax records.
Marks said it was too soon to know exactly what kind of retail will go on the site.
"I'm assuming a mix of something like a Target, like a Costco," he speculated. "It could be another automotive dealer. Or multiple. My guess is when we get done with our site planning that we'll have maybe 300,000 square feet."
The building, vacant since Guilford Mills moved its corporate headquarters to Wilmington in 2005, has 300,000 square feet of space on 30 acres.
Tower has struck up a partnership with Foreign Cars Italia, the nearby luxury sports car dealership, to develop 10 acres of excess land on its tract along with the Guilford Mills site, giving the future retail development a footprint of about 40 acres.
By comparison, the Shops at Friendly Center has about 300,000 square feet. Friendly Center has about three times that amount at 937,000 square feet.
The real estate agent working on the project said that Tower envisions creating something akin to Alamance Crossing or the Shops at Friendly Center.
"It'll be more than just your traditional strip retail," said Tom Townes, a managing partner with Triad Commercial Properties.
Although there may not be immediate need for new retail space in that area, Townes said that over time the demand will increase.
"There's very little land out there that can be rezoned for retail use without infringing on neighborhoods," he said. "This is one of the last ones that can be repositioned for retail."
In the meanwhile, Guilford Mills kept the building in good shape and Tower is looking for someone to lease the industrial space until an anchor tenant can be secured for the retail project.
"As a pure industrial site, it's a great building in a great location," Marks said. "If you add the new FedEx hub and the access to (interstates) 40 and 840 (Urban Loop), from an industrial standpoint or if you had some related use, it works real well for that."
But the company decided the best ultimate use for the space is retail.
The acquisition marks Tower's second project in North Carolina; the private company also owns an industrial warehouse in Lexington.
Construction on the retail development could be underway in the next year or two, Marks said.