Baker Storey Pays $1.3M for Parcel, Building Strip Center

Brian Forrester
Nashville Business Journal
November 12, 2004


Baker Storey McDonald Development has paid Commercial Net Lease Reality Inc. $1.3 million for a 1.75-acre parcel in Murfreesboro, where it will build MarketPlace Corner; a 14,500-square-foot retail center.

Commercial Net Lease, a real estate investment trust based in Orlando, Fla., was represented by Grubb & Ellis/Centennial. Nashville-based BSM Development is a subsidiary of BSM properties, which specializes in retail investing and tenant representation.

The MarketPlace property is at Marketplace Road and Old Fort Parkway. Nearby large retailers include Target, Wal-Mart and Old Navy.

Last week, BSM Development demolished a shuttered Texaco gas station and Burger King store that stood on the site. J.E. Crain Construction is the construction manager, and Chattanooga based Artech Inc. was the architect for the retail center.

“There is a lot of demand for shop space from tenants fro these type of retail projects,” says Arthur Perlen, a broker at Grubb & Ellis Centennial.

Case in point: MarketPlace Corner; BSM Properties fully leased the property before construction began. Panera Bread, Men’s Wearhouse, EB Games and AAA Auto Club of the South will occupy the building in May.

Murfreesboro’s retail vacancy rate stands at 8 percent, tracking closely with the Nashville area’s 7.8 percent vacancy, according to CB Richard Ellis’ 2004 third quarter report for retail.

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