Let the rumors begin!

It's going to be a bank/nail place/Dutch Bros. that also sells vape stuff and chicken fingers. Peak College Station

Another HEB. Every HEB is perpetually busy so it will make bank.

HEB was the seller…

HEB wasn't the seller. The seller was A+ tutoring. HEB had the lease on the former Albertsons space.

FlyRod said:

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Another HEB. Every HEB is perpetually busy so it will make bank.

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H-E-B had the opportunity for the last 10 years by holding onto the lease. They didn't. The way I had been told, H-E-B had expressed interest in the Kerrville Albertsons, but Albertsons wasn't willing to sell it to them without the other two Albertsons stores left south of Dallas (excluding Louisiana) at that point--New Braunfels and College Station. H-E-B took the deal, reopened Kerrville and abandoned the other two, keeping the lease. The NB store eventually became a new city hall and police station.

To re-iterate from the other thread, my first guess to what the next store will be is Target. Target's "urban" stores are a mixed bag, but they have been expanding with smaller footprints in more urban areas, like the former Randalls store at Shepherd and Westheimer, which was around 50k square feet (Target stores are usually closer to 100k square feet). Being closer to campus and providing an alternative to the usually crowded stores at College Station and Bryan could provide a real second.

The second...and a distant second, I'll grant you is...Albertsons. Yes, I hear your objections, and I'll tell you why you're wrong....at least, if we were speaking re-using the retail space (outside of redeveloping the entire plaza as student apartments, which isn't outside the realm of possibility).

The building is set up for a supermarket, in terms of electrical and plumbing work, which would make it much easier for a retailer to move in. When I suggested Albertsons on the other thread, the three "big city" grocers were raised as questions in the thread: Sprouts, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe's.

Well, no. The building is about 80,000 square feet, and all of them are too large for the other retailers. Sprouts usually occupies half of those (or a third of them), and they have occupied former parts of other dead Albertsons stores (those stores built as Albertsons, and this one was not--it was built as a Randall's, when they were an independent company). Plus, they HAD a spot on University Drive East lined up back about a decade ago (the former Linens-N-Things) but for whatever reason, they dropped out and never came back, even when other big box stores came available.

Trader Joe's occupies an even smaller space, about 18,000 square feet. The footprint of Trader Joe's is about the same size of an Aldi (and no, they're not the same company--though Trader Joe's parent company does operate some Aldi stores in other countries), and even with the former Village Foods, which was a much smaller building, they only used a third of it. Besides, Trader Joe's opened its last Texas store back in 2015 despite much growth throughout the state, and if they have any plans, it's probably Houston, Dallas, or Austin before B-CS.

Whole Foods has fallen in quality under Amazon, and it's not a good candidate either because both the store is too large, AND the area around University Drive East isn't nearly as wealthy enough that they'd consider it.

Kroger is unlikely too, but mostly because they just haven't done much expansion in Texas. There were rumors for a fourth Kroger store (or at least a bigger replacement for one), and we ended up losing a store permanently instead, even if the Bryan store did get expanded. Their few new stores are pretty large, though...at least 100k square feet...and it's unlikely given their relative lethargy, ignorance of their non-core markets, and desire for showpiece stores they'd use the opportunity to add a third Bryan-College Station store. Plus, they typically don't re-use store spaces left by other grocers, always building new.

Albertsons is the unlikely winner in the situation. While the rise of H-E-B and the fall of Albertsons happened at around the same time, they were doing well enough in College Station in the early 2000s that they were spared the cuts that closed the divisions in Houston and San Antonio. This was because they had acquired a company out of the West Coast and to make a long story short, they over-extended themselves.

The situation didn't improve and by 2006, they had divided into two companies, and while "Albertsons LLC", that took over what was then the Dallas-Fort Worth division was better managed than "New Albertsons Inc." out in the West Coast, Chicago, and the Northeast, most of the stores were sold for cash. They effectively sold the Florida division to Publix, the Northern California division to another California supermarket chain, and the Austin stores (that weren't already closed) to H-E-B.

The Bryan store closed in 2006 (one of the loser stores that were closed almost immediately) and the other CS store was sold to Walmart in 2008 (which included the liquor license--this store was partially demolished to expand the Walmart), but the UDE store was just sold because of the situation at the time.

Then...Albertsons came back to life. First, it bought United Supermarkets out of Lubbock, then the rest of the stores that had split off back in 2006, and then Safeway Inc., which owned Randalls and Tom Thumb in Texas.

Randalls was a bit of a lost cause in Houston and has closed several stores in the last five years, but Austin got a few new stores (the net loss is about one since 2015), but in Dallas-Fort Worth, they built a few more Tom Thumb stores including in the inner city and the suburbs, and just last week announced a new store in Irving, Texas...an abandoned store that had once been Minyard (with a short run by Fiesta after they took over the last of what was once a big Dallas-Fort Worth chain).

In the case of Irving, it's a somewhat scruffy area and there's definitely some incentives to renovate and reopen the store...but they were able to expand in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. And, to make matters more interesting, for whatever reason, the trucks of Albertsons/Randalls/Tom Thumb still trundle down FM 2818 nightly.

We've already seen one unlikely grocery chain step into the Bryan-College Station scene (Brookshire Brothers), so given the facts, is it really fair to disqualify a chain that once held three stores in the area?

This building was purchased by a large real estate company based in Houston. It traded north of $12M. HEB is on the lease until April 2023. HEB has no remaining options so they wont be able to restrict another grocer coming in if the new owners choose to go that route. This needs to go vertical to make economic sense or have a high rent paying single entertainment use. If it goes vertical, there could be a grocer on the ground levels.

= said:

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This needs to go vertical to make economic sense or have a high rent paying single entertainment use. If it goes vertical, there could be a grocer on the ground levels.

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Bryan-College Station isn't Houston. We're just now getting in-fill on those little lots that didn't really seem to have much use--Longmire and Brothers NEC, that little strip of land just north of University Oaks, etc.

I guess it's not outside the realm of possibility to have a grocery store built on a deck (like in Houston), those are extremely well-developed areas.

Forgot that we can't use humor here.

If Target were to put an Urban Target in College Station, the northgate area would be what makes sense. Don't see the Albertsons location as a fit for that type of store.

PS3D is exactly accurate in the background. The grocery business does not revolve around B-CS, it is a satellite in a very large system. As a result things that would seem counter intuitive here, or in any single spot makes $en$e to the larger players. And yes remember, we aren't Houston...... what we want, doesn't fit the plans for most large companies.

I still marvel at, that no matter how many times corrected on this forum, that people still say, believe, and like comments that HEB owned and sold the property.

HEB simply has the lease on the building and are still paying it. Even this last comment that HEB just sold is still getting likes lol.

You don't even have to take my word for it, even though I know the previous ownership and history. You can look at the history on CAD.

https://esearch.brazoscad.org/Property/View/88824

https://esearch.brazoscad.org/Property/View/367520

Owner of A+ tutoring. Hasn't updated to Levcor ( Larry Levine) out of Houston yet.

australopithecus robustus said:

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https://esearch.brazoscad.org/Property/View/88824

https://esearch.brazoscad.org/Property/View/367520

Owner of A+ tutoring. Hasn't updated to Levcor ( Larry Levine) out of Houston yet.

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I have first hand experience that it may take a few months for the county appraisal district to update it from the deed.

What an excellent analysis! Thanks for taking the time to share it.

Side note: I worked at an Albertsons in Oklahoma as a department manager for a brief period of time in 2000. That company was a hot mess. I could see the writing on the wall and got out quickly. It's been interesting to watch what the company has done over the last 20 years.

I hope that any kind of grocery store goes in that spot. It would make my Sunday shopping much easier!

Neehau said:

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This building was purchased by a large real estate company based in Houston. It traded north of $12M. HEB is on the lease until April 2023. HEB has no remaining options so they wont be able to restrict another grocer coming in if the new owners choose to go that route. This needs to go vertical to make economic sense or have a high rent paying single entertainment use. If it goes vertical, there could be a grocer on the ground levels.

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This is the most pragmatic of all the statements and thusly the most applicable to real estate/business. I will say it would be a tall order for an entertainment use to carry the cost, but vertical mixed use with a possible grocer would be sensible.

At the end of the day, it really is contingent on the developer's acumen in putting together something that has the best chance of success whilst monetizing the property at its highest and best use.

If the developer can put a deal together without razing everything, kudos to them. That would be the best for their pocketbook obviously.

If they go vertical there better be some parking in that vertical space because there won't be enough with the existing spaces

australopithecus robustus said:

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Neehau said:

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This building was purchased by a large real estate company based in Houston. It traded north of $12M. HEB is on the lease until April 2023. HEB has no remaining options so they wont be able to restrict another grocer coming in if the new owners choose to go that route. This needs to go vertical to make economic sense or have a high rent paying single entertainment use. If it goes vertical, there could be a grocer on the ground levels.

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This is the most pragmatic of all the statements and thusly the most applicable to real estate/business. I will say it would be a tall order for an entertainment use to carry the cost, but vertical mixed use with a possible grocer would be sensible.

At the end of the day, it really is contingent on the developer's acumen in putting together something that has the best chance of success whilst monetizing the property at its highest and best use.

If the developer can put a deal together without razing everything, kudos to them. That would be the best for their pocketbook obviously.

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Most pragmatic?! Yes, I know we've got shootings in the H-E-B parking lot and a new Costco under construction but still--we're not Houston and UDE isn't even Northgate.

It's a huge lot at 8 acres, and even if this was Inner Loop area Houston-tier real estate, then the land would be chopped up to multiple parties.

I know my Albertsons theory is not very likely and is probably wishful thinking on my part, but I put it forward with some reasons why it's not beyond the realm of imagination (and yes, I realize full well that "We're not the Dallas-Fort Worth market" or "Albertsons still hasn't re-entered any markets without acquisitions" are valid comebacks). But it does have some grounding in reality and history of the area.

Multi-use, multi-story buildings are a fun thought and more interesting than another big box slapping their sign on the building...but there's not much grounding in reality.

Umm, that's implied

australopithecus robustus said:

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Umm, that's implied

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Sorry. I missed that.

I'm sorry. That came off rudely on my part.

Username maybe checks out??

It's a good spot for a convention center. The city should buy it.

maroon barchetta said:

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Username maybe checks out??

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Haha no doubt.

I heard that it's going to be a Bucees.

Not one person here knows what they are talking about.

aneisch said:

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I heard that it's going to be a Bucees.

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Urban BuCees...

True for many threads on this board.

etmydst said:

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True for many threads on this board.

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It would be correct if there was the indication that included himself. I'm floored that someone would yammer about the property going vertical and then turning around that others don't know anything.

Either way, speculation is fun! Can't do this on a crime thread, mods get pissed when someone has a hot take there.

It's purchased by Texas A&M. There goes all the talk of exciting new businesses. Talk about a let down!

Just turn it into a park or something... we need more greenery in this town..

More pointless speculation: since there is another one in the BCS area, is it out of the realm of possibility that this space could become a Brookshire Brothers? I know nothing about their typical square footage or expansion efforts but it might be another option.

Bring in Brookshire's and we can just have an all-out grocery battle royale

phillytex24 said:

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It's purchased by Texas A&M. There goes all the talk of exciting new businesses. Talk about a let down!

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Extension of the lazy river it is!