Fairview Heights’ Marketplace sold in foreclosure auction. What stores will remain?
Marketplace Shopping Center in Fairview Heights has a new owner.
Highland Capital, a Nashville, Tennessee-based real estate firm specializing in commercial retail development, acquired the shopping center at auction last week. The shopping center was sold as part of a 2022 court ruling in a foreclosure case.
The winning bid came in around $5 million, according to Wyatt Woeltje, principal for Highland Capital.
Marketplace’s current tenants – Best Buy, David’s Bridal, The Bead Place, CitiTrends and Dollar Tree – will remain at the center, Woeltje said in a phone interview.
The exception is Golf Galaxy, which will move to 6611 N. Illinois St., reopening in March.
Maintaining existing tenants, “that’s always the goal,” said Woeltje. “It’s not a whole lot, but we want to keep people there.”
When asked if any structural repairs or upgrades will be needed to prepare Marketplace Shopping Center for new tenants, Woeltje said each prospective business likely will have different requirements based on their own company expectations.
Marketplace is a property Highland Capital wants to maintain and keep for the next 20 to 30 years, he said.
“We’re in the business that everyone appreciates,” which is bringing new businesses into communities, said Woeltje.
Dallas Alley, land use and development director for Fairview Heights, wrote in a Feb. 18 email to the BND that the City is excited about the firm’s plans for Marketplace.
“We look forward to working with Highland as they look to revitalize this shopping center,” Alley wrote.
Casting the net
The closing on Marketplace sale is pending and will likely take place in late March or early April, Woeltje said. Calls are already being made to potential tenants.
Woeltje said Highland has strong relationships with its existing tenants in other markets, which could mean bringing businesses to Marketplace that would be new to the metro east.
Woeltje said he has personally contacted 20 businesses and plans to reach out to many more about Highland’s new location.
When Highland Capital spoke with the City of Fairview Heights, the company provided a baseline example of what it hopes to accomplish at Marketplace.
Six months after the firm redeveloped Northpointe Shopping Center in Zanesville, Ohio, tenant occupancy went from 35% to 95%, said Woeltje, who hopes to do something similar with the Fairview Heights shopping center.
The Zanesville center includes ULTA Beauty, Academy Sports, Bath & Body Works, Kohl’s, Home Depot, PetSmart, Starbucks and other businesses.
The firm “basically transforms old shopping centers,” he said and has already redeveloped more than 10 million square feet of commercial property.
In December, Highland Capital acquired the Columbia Mall site in Columbia, Tennessee, according to a Dec. 12, 2024, Main Street Maury news report.
That month the firm also closed on the Shadybrook Mall property, also in Columbia, Tennessee. Justin Dohrmann, vice president of Highland Capital, made a Facebook post on Jan. 30, sharing the news. He added that signed tenants for the site include Academy Sports, Bealls (a family business that’s similar to TJ Maxx and Marshalls) and Five Below.
Construction for that site is underway.
About Marketplace Shopping Center
Built in 1987, Marketplace Shopping Center was sold as the result of a court decision in a property foreclosure complaint.
According to the complaint, which was filed in March 1 of 2022 by GSMS 2013 GCJ14 Plaza Drive LLC, the borrower, Fairview Heights Improvement LLC, defaulted on the mortgage loan it acquired in June 2013. Failure to make payments began in May 2020.
The St. Clair County Civil Court ordered the sale of the property in a September 2022 judgment.
Businesses located at the shopping center over the years included Western Outlet (formerly The Cowboy Shop), Babbitt’s Great Hamburgers, Bubba & Coy’s Southern Style Catfish and Burlington, which moved to North Illinois Street last year.
About Highland Capital
Highland Capital has redeveloped more than 90 properties in Illinois, Tennessee, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, Indiana, North Carolina, Texas, Ohio, Utah and other locations.
The commercial developer works with national retailers, restaurants, grocery stores and other businesses.
This story was originally published February 24, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
