Southern States Cooperative has sold its corporate headquarters building in Richmond, Va., for $14.745 million, according to a Sept. 12 announcement from Thalhimer Realty Partners (TRP), the real estate investment and development firm that purchased the property.
Southern States has used the eight-story structure as its corporate offices since its construction in 1978, beginning as a long-term tenant before taking ownership of the building in 2009. The cooperative will continue as a major tenant in the 206,068-square-foot building under a long-term lease, occupying about 100,000-150,000 square feet, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.
TRP said it has selected its parent company, Cushman & Wakefield, to provide exclusive leasing representation and commercial property management services for the property, which will now be known as Brookfield Place.
Southern States has some 1,200 retail outlets in 23 states, and is owned by more than 200,000 farmer-members. According to the newspaper, the co-op decided to sell the building to focus on its core business.
“Southern States is not in the landlord business,” Steve Patterson, Southern States senior vice president for marketing and communications, was quoted as saying. “When you own a building like that, you have all different distractions. This enables us to get back to where we need to be and focus on our business.”