Texas firm closes on Crabtree land acquisition

Houston-based Weingarten Realty Investors has closed on its $19 million purchase of a 12-acre plot of land Crabtree Valley Mall where the Kidd's Hill shopping center used to be behind.

Crabtree Avenue Investment Group, which sold the property, confirmed Tuesday that the deal is complete.

Triangle Business Journal reported Dec. 29 that General Partner Mark Tipton and his investors at Crabtree planned to sell the land to Weingarten, which in turn planned to begin construction on a mixed-use project on the site by summer.

Weingarten plans to build a high-end, mixed-use development comprising 250,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, 150,000 square feet of office space and between 400 and 600 residential units.

Crabtree initially spent $12 million to buy the land in 2002 and demolish the 25-year-old Kidd's Hill Plaza shopping center. But after the demolition, work stalled on the project. In the middle of 2006, Tipton put the land on the sale block with a price tag of $20.4 million.

Steven W. Nelson, a local Realtor with Keller Williams Realty said that this acquisition will be important for this area that has begun to struggle with its development. "At the time that Crabtree group had purchased the property with the plans of demolishing the shopping center, it lead to an uproar from a large contigency who frequented a local restaurant in the center. It was a landmark and its demolishion caused major bad press for the group." He went on to ask the question whether or not that lead to the ultimate demise of the project. "Occasionally, the people win these types of battles over development plans.