Nippers
Corner Center sold to Brentwood firm for $6.7M
By
Brian Forester
Nashville Business Journal
Brentwood-based
Baker Storey McDonald Properties has bought Nippers
Corner Shopping Center for $6.7 million, a deal that
opens for redevelopment prime retail space in an area
with high demand and few entry points.
Baker Storey McDonald founded earlier this year when
David Baker, Allen McDonald and Carl D. Storey, III
left Trammell Crow Co., bought the property at Edmondson
Pike and Old Hickory Boulevard Aug. 30 from the Walter
Nipper estate. The purchase includes the fully occupied
40,000 square-foot center and the 25,000 square-foot
Regal Cinema which has sat vacant for nearly a year.
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The
transaction was the result of nearly six months of work
by Baker Storey McDonald Properties and is the first major
acquisition for the firm. Bob Butler, co-executor of Nipper's
estate and son-in-law could not be reached for comment.
For Baker Storey McDonald, the attraction was the center's
location. "You drive north, south, east, or west and
it's all residential," says Storey. "There's less
risk of this area becoming overbuilt." It also means
there isn't much available land for the commercial development
in the Nipper's Corner submarket. That barrier to entry
is attractive to retailers interested in the area because
it means there is less opportunity for competitors to move
in, he says. The
intersection draws residential crowds from as far as Brentwood
and makes it a well positioned submarket," says David
Huddleston, managing director for Grubb & Ellis Centennial.
Nipper's
Corner was developed in 1991 by Jim Lattimore and Walter
Nipper, then owner of Nashville Sporting Goods. Baker Storey
McDonald Properties doesn't have plans to change either
the appearance or the name of the center. The vacant theatre,
however, poses an opportunity for change and redevelopment.
"Eliminating the theater use frees parking and more
options for redevelopment," says Storey, though the
firm isn't in a rush to make that or any other decision.
The
strong demographics for Nipper's Corner, including nearly
70,000 cars passing daily, may allow the Brentwood firm
flexibility in what it decides to do with the theater space
and parking area. "I think it's a tremendous opportunity
for a retailer to either take the space as-is, or demo it
and build a new shop space," says Robert Nichols, partner
with the Shopping Center Group of Tennessee Inc. Nichols
represented Applebee's and Jack In The Box in the Nipper's
Corner area.
Baker
Storey McDonald's principals won't say what they have in
mind for the theater, but expect to make a move within six
months. "We're still evaluating our options. Obviously
it's an important decision," says McDonald.
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