Walton-Linked Food Hub Gobbles Up Bentonville Property For $6M
by July 2, 2015 10:51 am 226 views
A two-building office park totaling 58,960 SF in Bentonville has a new owner after being sold for $6 million, a purchase price of $101.76 per SF.
According to a deed filed July 1, Food Hub NWA LLC is the new owner of the property at 700-702 S.E. 5th St.
Dixieland Inc., led by Thomas W. “Bill” Norwood was the seller.
The purchase is the third major Bentonville acquisition in the last two years for Food Hub, a Delaware-registered company which has the same Bentonville mailing address — P.O. Box 1860 — as that of Walton Enterprises LLC, the holding company owned by heirs of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. founder Sam Walton.
All three properties are in or adjoin the Market District, a 25-acre area southeast of the downtown square that will eventually be overhauled into a mixed-use development with a focus on food, culinary arts and entertainment.
It’s one of two experience districts — the other being the Arts District —outlined in the Southeast Downtown Area Plan that was adopted by the Bentonville City Council in January 2014.
But unlike Food Hub’s previous two purchases, the mixed-use/office building property on Southeast 5th Street is already an income producer.
The two class-A buildings — which are adjacent to the Razorback Regional Greenway — are within sight of the two other Food Hub holdings, former plants occupied by Tyson Foods Inc. and Kraft. Combined, they have a 95 percent occupancy, with tenants who include Spectrum Brands (22,198 SF), Li & Fung (9,000 SF), BRR Architects (6,100 SF) and Dixieland Inc. (2,000 SF).
A senior associate who works for one of tenants, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the news of the real estate sale had been known for about a month.
“There’s no short-term impact, and it’s too soon to say anything more,” the source told the Business Journal. “There is a positive outlook with the new owner.”
The cap rate of the 3.5-acre development is 8.87 percent.
Steve Fineberg & Associates of Bentonville had the listing.
City Title & Closing LLC of Fayetteville was the closing agent.
Previous Food Hub Activity
In July 2013, Food Hub acquired the former Tyson Foods plant (9.5 acres) at 801 S.E. 8th St. for $825,000.
In July the following year, Food Hub paid $1.45 million for a former Kraft manufacturing plant (6.6 acres) at 507 S.E. E St.
Plans have not been officially announced for either facility. However, the Tyson plant, which closed in 2005, was rezoned in April from heavy industrial to general commercial.
According to documents submitted to the city’s planning commission from CEI Engineering Associates Inc. of Bentonville, a culinary arts school is proposed to occupy about 27,600 SF of the space in the former Tyson Foods property, and the remaining 47,340 SF will be for tenants that include a small retail space, a coffee shop, a 4,696-SF sit-down restaurant, and a 5,248-SF business incubator.
As for the former Kraft facility, which closed in 2013, a spokesperson for Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art said it is in the preliminary exploration phase to determine if the spaces will work as an adjunct to the current museum campus.
The plant is comprised of several buildings that altogether make up about 65,000 SF.