Tucson Kmart Closing, Chuze Fitness Centers Opening

TUCSON, ARIZONA — Sears continues store closings as the company announced Friday that it will close 80 more Sears and Kmart locations in March. That includes the Tucson Kmart, a 145,152-square-foot building on 11.5 acres at 7055 E. Broadway Blvd in Tucson.

The announcement came on the same day that Sears faced a deadline to find a seller for the company as part of its bankruptcy. The 80 locations that will close in March is in addition to the 40 locations scheduled to be shuttered in February.

Of the 80 locations to close, 43 are Sears stores and 37 are Kmart.

To see a full list of stores closing in March, click here .

Heslin Holdings, Inc. a privately owned commercial real estate investment and development firm, purchased a second big box for redevelopment recently in Tucson. In October, we reported Helsin acquired the 35,000-square-feet former Safeway building at 5548 E Grant Road in Tucson.

The following month, Heslin purchased a second big box store, the former Babies“R” Us at 4619 N Oracle in Tucson for $3.4 million ($92.48 PSF).  The 36,763-square-foot property on 2.59 acres was sold by Wells Fargo Commercial Mortgage Service that bought it out of bankruptcy for $2,631,644.

The retail space at 4619 N Oracle is located across from the Tucson Mall and a 211,152-square-foot, single-tenant office building occupied by Comcast in a high density retail area.

Heslin purchased both properties for conversion into Chuze Fitness Centers. The acquisitions were part of a larger plan by Heslin to invest $75 million in retail properties over the next 12 months.

Heslin continues to pursue additional value-add commercial property opportunities throughout the country, with an emphasis on the Western U.S. growth regions where market fundamentals such as positive employment, housing and retail indicators support the firm’s value-add investment strategy.