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ShopKo Plaza Acquired by Texas Firm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

By Austin Montgomery, Stateline Business Journal

 

BELOIT — ShopKo Plaza in Beloit has been sold and the new owner has partnered with a West Allis real estate firm to determine what’s next for the financially challenged shopping center.

 

The 10.9-acre property was acquired by Stafford, Texas-based Key Star Capital on May 18 through a deed in lieu of foreclosure, according to the City of Beloit Assessor’s Office.

 

The property is valued at $1.4 million and is currently home to seven businesses next to ShopKo and Payless Shoes. SVN — Hintze Commercial Real Estate Managing Director Wally Sauthoff said Thursday the company was brought on last week by Key Star to manage the property.

 

“We are in the very early stages of identifying the condition of the property and obviously we are going to need to make some improvements to it,” Sauthoff said.

 

Sauthoff said the real estate group would spend the next six weeks evaluating the site to determine what direction the shopping center will take.

 

“It’s been neglected over the last several years,” Sauthoff said.

 

As for specific changes, he added that it was too early to say, but noted he had met with tenants to inform them of the change in ownership from Wauconda, Illinois-based Beloit Plaza Partners.

 

According to Key Star Asset Manager David Marino, the goal will be to locate future business tenants at the site, but said he was unsure of what those plans would look like.

 

In 2006, the plaza was sold by Al Ornstein to Jan Mar Realty Partners. The site has struggled for decades, with various tenants coming and going from the shopping center.

 

Sauthoff said the shopping center was “very tired.”

 

“We need to get our feet on the ground before we decide the course of action we are going to take,” Sauthoff said.