Shindico and operating partner Larsen Baker LLC have sold an approximately 11.7-acre anchor parcel at Tucson Place Shopping Center in Tucson to Walmart for approximately US$17 million.

Construction is now underway on a new 160,000-square-foot Walmart Superstore at the southwest corner of First Avenue and Wetmore Road in midtown Tucson following the transaction’s completion.. The project will nearly double the size of the existing 86,400-sf store, with Walmart expecting to open the expanded Superstore later this year.

Winnipeg-based Shindico has co-owned Tucson Place with Tucson-based Larsen Baker, which has acted as developer and property manager since the shopping centre’s assembly. The partners said the sale generated a significant gain on their long-term investment while positioning the centre to benefit from increased customer traffic from the expanded Walmart location. Larsen Baker will continue managing the remaining 140,000-sf of the shopping centre on behalf of the partnership.

“Seeing construction now underway on the new Superstore is the right outcome for everyone — Walmart secures the footprint it needs to invest in a flagship store, and our partnership realizes the value we built over many years at Tucson Place. Larsen Baker has been an outstanding operating partner, and we look forward to the next chapter of the centre under their continued stewardship,” said Sandy Shindleman, founder and chairman of Shindico Realty Inc..

Common Bond Development represented Walmart in the transaction.

Tucson Place is part of Shindico’s U.S. retail portfolio, which complements the company’s Canadian holdings that include shopping centres, office buildings, industrial parks and multifamily properties. The company said it continues to pursue acquisitions in select U.S. middle-market metropolitan areas, with a focus on grocery-anchored and neighbourhood retail centres as well as class B and C multi-family communities.

Pictured: Tucson Place mall in Tucson.

Photo: Courtesy of Shindico