ESSEX, Conn., May 15, 2006 -- Lowe’s Home Improvement will open its newest Connecticut store later this year in Wallingford, Conn., thanks in part to the efforts of one local firm that pulled together the multi-layered deal.
Property Politics, the real estate development and advisory firm founded by Essex resident Wayne D’Amico, CCIM, worked nearly three years to structure the redevelopment of the former Wal-Mart site on Route 5 in Wallingford. In March, the complex three-party transaction, estimated at more than $25 million, closed, moved forward and will bring Lowe’s to the former Wal-Mart site.
“My knowledge of both the local and national dynamics affecting this project enabled me to work with Wal-Mart to best position this site for maximum redevelopment potential,” said Wayne D’Amico, CCIM, President and Principal of Property Politics. “This was a complex deal that required securing additional acreage to make it work, as well as working through detailed leasing and mortgage issues before the deal could close.”
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. of Bentonville, Ark., retained D’Amico in May 2003 to lease its former 125,000-square-foot store at 1092 North Colony Road, also known as Route 5, in Wallingford. Wal-Mart, which leased the ground from property owner Infinity Route 5, LLC, moved in July 2004 into the 172,000-square-foot former Super Kmart store, a little further down the street in Wallingford. Part of the efforts to bring Lowe’s to the 18-acre site, meant negotiating and completing a deal for an additional 6.7 acres on two adjoining parcels, D’Amico said.
Plans call for knocking down the Wal-Mart store and a 40,000 square-foot former health club on the site, then building a new, 170,000(+/-) -square-foot Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse including a 29,000-square-foot garden center, facing North Colony Road and the Home Depot across the street. Based in Mooresville, N.C., Lowe’s operates more than 1,200 stores in 49 states, including six stores already in Connecticut.
“D’Amico was an integral part of the process, allowing Wal-Mart to mitigate our outstanding obligation at the former store site.” said Sam Harper, CCIM, Real Estate Manager for Wal-Mart Realty Dispositions Division. “Early in our disposition process I identified D’Amico as qualified local resource to help Wal-Mart with what was anticipated to be a difficult task. We are extremely pleased with the results.”
