GREENFIELD — Buildings that used to house Marsh Supermarkets locations across Indiana haven’t exactly been flying off the shelves.
The one on the south end of McKenzie Plaza in Greenfield has been unable to garner a tenant for two years now after the grocery chain left amid its bankruptcy.
A commercial real estate executive says those who are in the market for the former supermarket become less keen on the idea after learning the rent rate. Furthermore, Greenfield just isn’t a good fit for certain grocers and other types of stores that typically fill that kind of space. And any non-grocer moving in and needing to retrofit the building would find the construction costs formidable.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryThey all mesh together into what Keith Stark calls “a complicated scenario.”
Stark is CEO of Indianapolis-based ConsortiumCRE, which is listing Greenfield’s former Marsh property for an undisclosed amount. Greenfield SSG LLC out of Armonk, New York, owns the nearly 40,000-square-foot, 31-year-old building.
“We’re not desirous of keeping it vacant, that’s for sure,” Stark said. “…It’s a challenge that we would love to solve.”
He said while there are certainly companies willing to set up shop in Indianapolis, the list is much shorter for Greenfield due to its demographics, population and socioeconomic factors.
“I can’t get Target, I can’t get Fresh Market,” he said. “There’s a long list of people I can’t get, and I’ve talked to all of them.”
There are about 35 vacant Marsh buildings throughout Indiana, Stark said. They were all built to house one purpose: a grocery store.
ConsortiumCRE is “aggressively pursuing grocery” in light of that single purpose-design, Stark continued, adding he’s reached out to every grocer that operates in the state.
“It’s being blasted all over the U.S., not just Greenfield or Indiana,” he added.
But hurdles abound. Greenfield’s market isn’t big enough for high-end grocers like Trader Joe’s and The Fresh Market, Stark said. The numeral 1 would have to be added to the beginning of every household income before Whole Foods would consider coming to town, he continued.
Options grow smaller when considering grocers that are not only already in Greenfield, but nearby — such as Kroger across the street and Walmart just down the road, Stark said.
Even if Trader Joe’s was interested, Stark continued, it would only need half of the building, requiring construction costs that are up 30 to 40 percent at the moment.
If a non-grocer were to take over the building, even more construction would be required, Stark said. Retrofitting the property would mean gutting its interior and changing its exterior at a cost he said would be comparable to constructing a brand new building.
Despite those challenges, the property continues to garner interest for alternative uses, Stark said. Entities behind those possibilities just aren’t willing to pay a sufficient rent to support the building, he continued. Mortgage expenses, taxes and insurance make it difficult to operate 40,000 square feet and turn a profit, he said.
Stark said he’s been doing business in Greenfield for the past 25 years and was part of bringing companies to town like Home Depot, Cracker Barrel, Maurices and Gordmans.
“There’s a lot of good news in Greenfield, just not a lot of good news we can report about the vacant Marsh because of the particular characteristics of that building,” he said.
Other Indiana communities have had more luck filling their former Marsh stores. Not long after the company announced plans to close and sell properties across the state, Fresh Encounter entity Generative Growth II LLC put a Needler’s Fresh Market in New Palestine’s old Marsh.
The Indianapolis Business Journal has identified other area Marsh replacements, like Aldi on Indianapolis’ north side and a trampoline park in Noblesville.
Brigette Cook Jones, executive director of Hancock County Tourism, recently took to her agency’s Facebook page to ask what people would like to see in Greenfield’s old Marsh building.
Many of the responses suggested the kind of high-end grocers that Stark said would be unfeasible. Others proposed craft and fabric retailers like Jo-Ann, Michaels and Hobby Lobby. Facebook users pitched Rural King, Dave & Buster’s and a community center as well.
Jones told the Daily Reporter that she feels the building has potential because it’s large, has plenty of parking and is well located.
“A convention space would be awesome,” she said, adding it’s not far from the city’s hotels.
Jones said she receives requests for large gathering spaces that she has to turn away because there isn’t anything big enough in Greenfield. Other than the high school’s gymnasium, there’s nowhere in town to put 1,000 people, she continued.
Other local business officials aren’t sure what should or could go in the former Marsh building. They just want it to return to functioning once more.
“Whether it goes back to retail or other purposes, it’s certainly a great community asset that we need to try to put back into use,” said Randy Sorrell, executive director of the Hancock County Economic Development Council.
Retta Livengood, president of the Greenfield Area Chamber of Commerce, said much of the feedback she’s received on the empty Marsh building has consisted of a desire for another grocery store to take it over.
“I think people just drive by and want something in there,” she said.
Like Jones, Livengood thinks the property’s size, parking and location are ideal.
“It’s got a lot of good things going in its favor, but we just need to find the right person to take that leap,” she said.
