With the success of the Newport Pavilion rumors have been
circulating about the future of the Newport Shopping Center. The shopping
center has been in existence since 1953 and according to their website they are
the host to almost 40 businesses. While some businesses in the shopping center
are more successful than others the space appears to be mostly vacant and has
not proven to be a viable location to start a thriving business. Smaller
businesses have a hard time surviving in the shopping center, which has
prompted people to think that another super-store may have their eyes set on
the property.
The rumor that Wal-Mart wants to purchase the shopping
center to create a super-store in it’s place has come across the wire at Fort
Thomas Matters with enough frequency that we wanted to address it head on.
I contacted Andrew Modrall who owns the laundromat and
tanning salon in the shopping center to see if he had heard anything regarding
the Wal-Mart take over.
Modrall spoke with Jaimie Niemczura, who is the manager of
the Newport Shopping Center, and this is the information that Modrall was able
to get from Jaimie:
“She said that the rumor of Wal-Mart coming to the Newport
Shopping Center has been bouncing around for many months. She said that she has
had no contact with Wal-Mart, or with any broker representing Wal-Mart. She is
continuing to lease spaces in the Newport Shopping Center, and if Wal-Mart were
going to take space in the center, or buy the entire center and use it for them,
then leasing individual spaces to new tenants would be counterproductive.
Any buyer of a shopping center is obligated to honor the terms of existing
leases. So it seems to me to be a long shot that Wal-Mart is coming to the
Newport Shopping Center, either as a tenant, or as a buyer of the property.”
The main thing to take away from Jaimie’s information is
that any buyer of the property is obligated to honor the terms of the existing
leases. If Wal-Mart were to move in they would have to honor those leases, or
in a more likely scenario face a very expensive venture to procure the shopping
center. It is Wal-Mart though; handling the price tag that goes along with
those leases would not cripple the retail giant.
For now we can address the rumor, as it does not look like
Wal-Mart is moving into Newport. We will continue to communicate with the
shopping center representatives and bring you updates as it becomes available.
Great article, Ben. Another point: It was WalMart, not Target and Kroger Marketplace that was originally slated for The Newport Pavilion.
ReplyDeleteplease keep walmart and that cluster away from newport, traffic is already bad enough. In A few years, Newport will be the new Florence. I like the closeness of the stores but i prefer less traffic headaches.
ReplyDeleteheard that the upper tier shopping center, from Ace Hardware (the old Walgreens) to the bowling alley will be torn down and a new Super Walmart will be built on the site.
ReplyDelete