Toys R Us on Monday announced it has hired private real estate and retail advisory firm Raider Hill Advisors to help sell hundreds of its closed stores, including two in the St. Louis area.Â
The New York-based firm will help the bankrupt toy seller maximize the value of 284 properties spread over 46 states.Â
The St. Louis area properties included in the agreement are the former Toys R Us properties at 6926 S. Lindbergh in Mehlville and a former Babies R Us at 5590 St. Louis Mills Blvd., in Hazelwood. Both locations, which are 45,862 square feet and 30,590 square feet, respectively, are owned by Toys R Us.
A third St. Louis area property, at 10895 W. Florissant Road in Ferguson, is also included in the portfolio as surplus property. The 46,000-square-foot Toys R Us store in Ferguson closed in March 2015.
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Major retailers such as Hobby Lobby and TJ Maxx are set to take the place of dozens of defunct Toys R Us stores across the country. But none of those transitions are planned in St. Louis, leaving the fate of nearly 300,000 square feet of retail space up in the air.
Joe Ciapciak, managing director of Pace Properties, said he thinks the storefronts may not be reoccupied until 2020.
“It might make more sense for (future users) to deal with the lenders, who in all likelihood will be getting the properties back anyway,†he said. “It’s going to take at least a year or two.â€
Aside from Hobby Lobby and TJ Maxx, other retailers buying Toys R Us leases include Target, Burlington, Big Lots, Ashley Furniture, Aldi, Raymour & Flanigan (a furniture and mattress store) and sports concepts such as Golf & Tennis Pro Shop, which operates the PGA Tour Superstore chain.
Only one St. Louis store to date — the south St. Louis County Babies R Us in Southpoint Plaza at 4441 Lemay Ferry Road — has hit the auction block. The lease for that store was handed back to the shopping plaza’s landlord, represented by real estate firm White Co., after no other entity bid on the location. Another Toys R Us store that closed in Chesterfield several years ago was backfilled by a Total Wine & More in 2015.