Maureen Wallenfang
Appleton Post-Crescent
Published 2:44 PM EST Jan 14, 2020
Reader question: Is Fleet Farm really for sale. If it is, why?
Answer: The real estate is for sale, not the company.
What you saw was a real estate flyer that advertises the Fleet Farm retail property for sale for $55.9 million at 3035 W. Wisconsin Ave. in Grand Chute.
Fleet Farm leases this property for its flagship store. Its current 25-year lease goes to October 2041, according to real estate documents.
“This is a routine investment offering by our New York-based landlord,” said Tom Carrico, Fleet Farm’s vice president of real estate and construction. “Nothing has or will change in terms of our operations. Any buyer takes the property subject to all the terms of our long-term lease. We look forward to serving our valued customers out of our Appleton store for many years to come.”
Sales documents show the 32-acre property includes the 273,175-square-foot company store, an industrial center, two gas stations and a car wash. Documents list Fleet Farm’s 2018 revenues in excess of $1.6 billion, and refer to this is the company’s flagship. Fleet Farm has 45 stores, according to its website.
For background: the Mills family sold the entire Mills Fleet Farm company in January 2016 to KKR, an investment firm, for a reported $1.2 billion.
The store’s property, which is at the corner of W. Wisconsin Avenue and Bluemound Drive, was transferred in October 2016 to MFF Mortgage Borrower 11 LLC, according to state records.
In separate news, Fleet Farm is currently in the process of moving its corporate headquarters from S. Lynndale Drive to the former Secura building on Memorial Drive in Appleton. The move is expected to be complete at the end of March. It will consolidate company offices and 500 employees that had been in six different locations. Fleet Farm agreed to purchase the Memorial Drive building from Secura for an undisclosed amount.
Archive: SECURA sells its longtime Appleton building to Fleet Farm
Archive: The Buzz: What’s next after Fleet Farm moves its HQ in Appleton?
Contact reporter Maureen Wallenfang at 920-993-7116 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @wallenfang.
More: The Buzz: Rico’s changes formats in Kaukauna
More: The Buzz: Give your suggestions for the 2020 Reader Wish List
Let’s block ads! (Why?)
