Developer to present plan for South Point Center

TBL has learned that an Eau Claire developer will be presenting a site plan to the City of Eau Claire Plan Commission in early May to fully develop the South Point Shopping Center in Eau Claire, which is anchored by HOM Furniture and Festival Foods and is located next to United Health Group off of Mall Drive.

Dean Larsen, owner of Acquisition Realty & Development and principal owner of Larsco LLC, is proposing a $4.5 million project for the remaining 10 acres of undeveloped property on the site. Two large retail tenants would be located just north of a 12,000-square-foot strip center that is being built across from a similar retail center that is anchored by Famous Dave's Restaurant and Northwestern Bank.

"We plan to develop three buildings facing Highway 93 that consist of approximately 60,000 square feet in total. Plus, we have plans for an 8,000-square-foot restaurant to be constructed on an outlot along Highway 93," said Larsen, who added that he has at least two prospects ready to sign leases for about 45,000 square feet. Larsco is doing the project in conjunction with Lehman Bros., the property owner.

"One 25,000-square-foot tenant, a clothing retailer, would like to be in the new building by September, while the other 20,000-square-foot retailer wants to be in by March. We would like to start on at least one of the buildings in the next 30-60 days, but a lot depends on how things play out with our construction schedule," he said.

The 10-acre parcel, as well as the former Saturn and Randall Foods buildings were part of a larger retail project that never came to fruition, according to Larsen.

"We were tied up in a land swap deal for about 14-16 months with a large retailer that wanted to build on the north half of the development site...but when that did not materialize, we decided to go ahead with this project...We have always said that this was going to be a neighborhood shopping center," he said.

TBL