Date: 10/27/22
Owner Bill Johnson had used a local agent who failed to advertise the property correctly so it sat vacant for several years. We took over and got Bill 6 offers within just a few months and eventually negotiated the sale to Rouses Markets.
1701 Highway 43, Picayune, MS
Shopping Center owner Bill Johnson hired us after listing his 48,000 SF vacant Winn Dixie store with a local real estate agent who primarily worked in the residential sector. We took over the listing and first researched what businesses would be successful in the space. A large 48,000 SF space in a small town like Picayune is difficult to lease, because large companies are not normally moving to small towns since it is just not feasible.
Our research discovered Picayune pulls traffic from nearby Stennis Space Center which is one of the largest employers in Mississippi, and that nearby residents spend $69,000,000 on health care and $56,000,000 on groceries. There is only one grocery store in Picayune and it is located far away from the interstate.
We created a 9 page marketing presentation which included zoning, traffic counts, satellite photos, floor plans and consumer spending data, and promoted the space using commercial databases LoopNet, CREXI, and LACDB. We also utilized the MSCREX database which only reaches 150 agents in Mississippi but is the primary database that Mississippi agents and businesses use to find vacant space to lease.
We received 6 offers to lease the 48,000 SF space and during negotiations with Rouses Markets, we providing a financial analysis showing an adjacent tenant lease could be valued over $1,000,000 which would make buying the property more feasible than just leasing the space. We successfully negotiated an offer with Rouses Facilities Director and the Director of Real Estate.
One obstacle was that the previous agent also acted as property manager and did not provide accurate tenant information and leases. We were able to bypass the roadblocks and develop relationships with tenants to obtain the information the buyer needed to proceed. We negotiated several offers and counter-offers and cemented a final transaction with a 4 month inspection period. We guided the buyer and seller through inspections, providing leases and documents buyer needed to close.
