Lormax Stern Purchases Phase I of Fairlane Green Retail Center in Allen Park

CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

June 07, 2010 2:46 PM

By Daniel Duggan

West Bloomfield Township-based retail developer Lormax Stern Development Co. has purchased phase one of the Fairlane Green retail development in Allen Park from a Texas-based investment group.

Sale of the 400,000-square-foot facility closed Friday. The sale price was not disclosed.

Selling the retail center was Archon Group, a real estate investment company that is a subsidiary of New York-based Goldman Sachs Inc. The Southfield office of CB Richard Ellis represented Archon. Lormax Stern represented itself.

Lormax Stern was a consultant early in the development process of the shopping center, making it interesting to purchase four years after it was built, said Chris Brochert, a partner with Lormax Stern.

“This is exactly the kind of asset Lormax Stern would purchase, he said. “It’s a long-term ownership position, and we’re reinvesting in Southeast Michigan.”

Also, among the 28 shopping centers owned by Lormax Stern, is the Lowe’s-anchored Independence Marketplace center next to Fairlane

Fairlane is known in real estate circles for its unique legal structure.

It was once a landfill used by Ford Motor Co. The Dearborn OEM’s land division, Ford Land, capped the landfill and created a vertical condominium structure for the property.

Under that structure, Archon purchased the surface of the land while Ford Land retains all land beneath the surface-  including the capped landfill.

Developed in 2006, the property is certified at the “gold” level by the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED program.

The property, on the north side of Fairlane Drive, is currently 87-percent occupied with anchor tenants Barnes & Noble, TJ Maxx, Old Navy and Bed Bath & Beyond, with a Target store adjacent to the development.

A second phase to the development is to the south, containing a Meijer, Home Depot and Best Buy.

Click to view article