The Price of Protection

Remember that house on Washington Avenue in Fayetteville that Carl Collier bought to block a proposed Walgreens store? It seems that Collier paid a premium for the 60-year-old home that he admits needs remodeling.

According to county records, Collier paid $185,000 for the 2,326-SF home in the city’s historic district. That’s almost $80 per SF. That’s almost twice the appraised value of the home. The home had been listed at $189,900 and had been on the market for about a year.

Collier bought the house through his company with a $142,400 mortgage to Collier Drug Stores Inc. from McIlroy Bank and Trust of Fayetteville.

Of course, the value of the property to Collier had little to do with the house. By buying the property, Collier reduced the size of available land for the Walgreens store enough that the company scrapped plans for a Walgreens in Fayetteville that would have been three blocks from Collier’s Dickson Street store.