Redevelopment in Middletown
Retail site in affluent Louisville suburb changes hands

Located along Louisville’s Shelbyville Road commercial corridor, just west of the Gene Snyder Freeway, Middletown Station was originally conceived in 1990 as an enclosed mall featuring a 210,000-s.f. Bigg’s Hypermarket. Plans called for a total 418,000-s.f. in two phases with up to 45 tenants and numerous out parcels. At that time Bigg’s announced plans for at least two other locations in the Louisville market, neither of which materialized. With the addition of Meijers, competition among grocers heated up with Bigg’s never capturing more than seven percent of the market.

Sales at Bigg’s never lived up to expectations, tenants turned over, the second phase was never completed and several out parcels remained unsold. Last spring, Bigg’s bought out the last eight years of its lease and closed. Most of the remaining tenants also left.

THP Development recently purchased the 77-acre tract for a price of $10,500,000 or approximately $136,364 per acre without any consideration for the exiting buildings. By comparison, Bayer Properties is purchasing the commercially-zoned component of the Summit at Louisville at Highway 22 and The Gene Snyder. The price being paid for this 36-acre tract is reported to be $8,136,000 or $226,000 per acre. Since the purchase, THP has temporarily relocated Burlington Coat Factory from the Shelbyville Road Plaza as part of that center’s renovation.

This section of the Shelbyville Road commercial corridor has had other problems with the closing of Jumbo Sports, formery located across Shelbyville Road from Middletown Station and the closing of The Best of Heleringer’s, from the Eastgate Shopping Center, just west of Middletown Station.

THP is considering a number of potential uses, which may or may not include existing buildings. Finding the right combination may take three years or more. Competition for users will come from the Summit at Louisville as well as the last of the Springhurst Towne Center at Westport Road and the Gene Snyder Freeway.

The high pressure natural gas transmission lines that run diagonally under the land will limit the final site design. According to U.S. Census data, the average household income within a three-mile radius of Middletown Station is $101,522.

An expert in commercial real estate, Russ Lohan is the managing partner of the Louisville office
of Realty Research.

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