A decade ago, a consortium of partners associated with South Ridge LLC approached Fisher Lumber Co. about acquiring its property near Taft and Ridge Road.
“We thought it was a logical extension of what we already own next door,” says Dan Unruh of InSite Real Estate Group. “We decided to reach out to them when we first redeveloped the former American Family Insurance building.”
That’s where the group redeveloped the property for Twin Peaks, Jimmy John’s, Great Clips, Wingstop and Cold Stone Creamery.
Fisher Lumber wasn’t interested in selling back then, but it is now.
“Years ago, you needed to have large cabinet displays, things like that, in order to be able to sell that product. Nowadays, you just don’t need it.”
Fisher Lumber’s new space is at 4600 W. Kellogg in the one-time Verizon space.
The new space is 7,000 square feet, which compares to 13,600 square feet at 7355 W. Taft.
Fisher says his business is going well.
“Housing is increasing monthly compared to what it has been for the last eight years,” Fisher says. “I truly believe talking with out contractors, they are much more upbeat.”
Don Ablah of Classic Real Estate helped the Fishers with both transactions.
The new group takes possession of the former Fisher space on May 6.
“At the moment our plan is to get the property purchased and then to explore what uses might be in demand for that building,” Unrush says.
“We just want to make sure that we capitalize on what we’ve already created there,” he says. “The whole area has continued to evolve and develop into a really popular destination for lunch and dinner trade, soft and hard goods, and you see more and more national tenants looking for opportunities in this market.”
Unruh calls it a strategic purchase for a “very fast-growing and hot market.”
He adds a final comment that other developers are starting to make when announcing projects.
“This acquisition is consistent with our philosophy of not seeking any public subsidies for our Investments”