Unnamed retailer moving into shopping center
An unnamed retailer will join the stores now operating at Uniontown Shopping Center at 575 Morgantown St. Work has begun renovating the former McDonald’s Restaurant building that sits near Tractor Supply Co.’s store in the strip shopping center.
Tilda Comstock, spokesperson for J.J. Gumberg Co., which manages the property for owner Robert L. Newman of Greenwich, Conn., said it is “a little premature to announce who the retailer is.
“We make public announcements when the deals are finalized and both parties have agreed they are comfortable with making the announcement.
“We are very confident this retailer will bring a lot of value to the community. We believe the retailer will offer brands that resonate with consumers,’ Comstock said.
Whoever the new retailer is, it will join major tenants at the shopping center that include Aldi grocery, Big Lots and Big Lots Furniture Store, Tractor Supply Co., D&K Store, Family Dollar, Eckerd Drug, McDonalds, National City Bank and the U.S. Social Security office.
The shopping center has more than 170,000 square feet of leasable space.
Comstock said that determining what tenants are in the center is important to J.J. Gumberg.
“We make sure the space is leased to the most appropriate retailer. Leasing is taken into consideration, with the needs of the community,’ she said.
“We manage the property, but it is important we attract the retailer that really fits with the community. We don’t take a one-size-fits-all approach,’ she said.
The former McDonald’s Restaurant, a brick structure containing 3,348 square feet, will be enlarged, Comstock said, to accommodate the new tenant.
“Renovations to the building will be significant,’ she said.
McDonald’s built a new restaurant on the shopping center property in July 1997, one that better reflected its goals and trends. The old restaurant closed in August that year. Comstock said the company was not interested in the old building or its history.
“They stripped all their equipment from the building when they moved. The only remaining portion basically were the four walls.’
Comstock added she is not sure how much larger the building will be “but the confines of the existing building will not accommodate the new retailer.’ When asked what other projects may be in the works at the center, Comstock said, “There’s nothing I can talk about, right now. But we do have some things coming.’
J.J. Gumberg founded the company bearing his name in 1927. As a national real estate investment and development company, J.J.Gumberg manages more than 30 retail centers in multiple states, and commercial office properties totaling about 12 million square feet.
The centers host more than 2,000 retailing establishments that generate a total of about $2 billion annually.