Hurd adds to its Hy-Vee portfolio
KENT DARR Nov 16, 2016 | 10:53 pm
2 min read time
424 wordsBusiness Record Insider, Real Estate and DevelopmentHy-Vee Inc. food and convenience stores in West Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and cities in two other states came as a package from a national real estate investment trust trying to divest properties and polish its business model after two years of unflattering attention.
They were bought by Hurd Real Estate Services, a West Des Moines company that receives plenty of flattery and always seems to be in a growth pattern.
Hurd paid a total of $61 million for grocery stores at 1990 Grand Ave. and 555 S. 51st St. in West Des Moines and one each in Cedar Rapids, Columbus, Neb., and Olathe, Kan. The convenience stores were in Columbus and West Des Moines.
Richard Hurd said that in order to buy the West Des Moines operations, his firm had to buy the entire package. Not that he is complaining. Hurd Real Estate Services now owns 18 Hy-Vee grocery stores and 12 convenience stores in five states, adding up to 1.3 million square feet of leasable space.
“The properties acquired add to our mission to add best-in-class retailers to our diverse portfolio of regional and national tenants,” he said.
So far this year, Hurd Real Estate Services has spent a little more than $150 million for 26 properties.
Hurd said the company is following a strategy of selling properties it owns in some of the Sun Belt states and acquiring properties closer to home.
In the 1990s, Hurd started looking for acquisitions outside Greater Des Moines in order to build the company. There were simply not enough investment properties available in this area, and that remains the case.
“It would be naive to think we would get all of the business in Des Moines,” he said.
The company recently sold a Kum & Go on Eighth Street in West Des Moines, the last property at the former Quality Ford site that Hurd Real Estate Services developed after acquiring the property. That was a special sale to out-of-town buyers who knew exactly what type of property they wanted to own in Greater Des Moines.
Hurd has a history of buying retail properties and hanging on to them. It’s a transaction that works out for retailers who sell their properties, then use the capital for the future growth of their companies.
“It is a very common strategy for retail companies to lease their stores and use their capital to fuel their growth,” he said.
This has been Hurd Real Estate Services biggest year “by far,” Hurd said. And he expects another good year in 2017.
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