A Dallas commercial real estate firm is looking to revamp property on University Avenue formerly occupied by Sears.
Shop Companies is seeking a grocery store to anchor what it's now calling the Shops at University Village. A brochure for the project shows a 123,000-SF building and two new outparcels on property at the northwest intersection of University Avenue and I-630.
The property is owned Little Rock Medical Associates IV LLC and Little Rock Medical Associates Limited, both of Little Rock. One 14-acre parcel, at 600 S. University, includes the 162,082-SF Sears store and a 14,137-SF Sears Auto and Tire Center. The other 2.2-acre parcel, at 600 S. McKinley St., includes the 56,060-SF Doctors Plaza Building.
The brochure shows two new buildings in place of the tire center — one is 14,000 and another is 14,500 SF.
The brochure says the area has an estimated daytime population of more than 315,000 within a five-mile radius of the shopping center. It says the average household income is also more than $60,000.
John Doubleday, a senior partner at Shop Companies, would not comment about the company's plans for the property.
Sears closed the store in July, part of a round of store closings by its parent company, which also owns Kmart.
Other retail destinations in the area include Park Avenue, Midtowne Little Rock and Park Plaza Mall.