Columbus Park Crossing Chick-fil-A to be on the city’s most expensive acre

The deal for a new fast-food restaurant in the middle of the most vibrant retail center in Columbus turned heads earlier this week.

On Monday, it was disclosed that Chick-fil-A purchased the property at 5520 Whittlesley Blvd., from Gene Meszaros, who owned and operated a Shogun restaurant on the site for 10 years.

The sales price? No one is officially saying yet and the deed has not yet been recorded in the Muscogee County Superior Court Clerk’s Office, but the asking price was $3.5 million for Shogun and the 1.1 acre at Columbus Park Crossing South. Those familiar with the sale say it was not for the asking price, but it was north of $3 million.

Those familiar with Columbus real estate said that would make the property the most expensive acre of dirt in Muscogee County when Chick-fil-A razes the 10-year-old Shogun building to ready for a new restaurant.

There is a Shogun restaurant on the property, but Chick-fil-A was buying the land because the existing building will be torn down to make way for the new restaurant.

Bickerstaff Parham Chief Experience Officer Reynolds Bickerstaff, who was not involved in the Columbus Park Crossing Chick-fil-A transaction, is impressed with the number.

“That’s a lot,” he said. “I would say it is the highest sale on record for 1 acre of land in Muscogee County,” Bickerstaff said. “The Chick-fil-A folks know their business and they clearly see it as a good investment for their business model to serve their customers.”

As the Columbus Park Crossing development has filled out since it opened in 2002, the land that Shogun purchased for $888,000 from Columbus Park Crossing South LLC in August 2006 only increased in value. The existing restaurant was built in 2007 at a cost of $1.3 million, according to a city building permit acquired at the time.

In 10 years, the property’s value increased by about $1 million and the sale got the attention of those throughout the Columbus real estate community.

“I found it to be incredible,” said J. Barrington Vaught, a Columbus attorney who has been doing real estate closing transactions since 1970. “They are paying one heck of a premium. ... They have got to sell a lot of chicken to make that deal work.”

Coldwell Banker/Kennon, Parker, Duncan & Davis Commercial broker Ernie Smallman has watched the sale of the Shogun property to Chick-fil-A with great interest.

“At the end of the day, that’s the cover charge to be right in the middle of about 2 million square feet of retail space,” Smallman said. “There is no question, it is Columbus’ most proven retail corridor.”

And while it may look like a gamble from the outside for a fast-food restaurant, that is not how Smallman sees it.

“This is an extremely sophisticated group,” he said. “I don’t take them for the kind of people who make $3 million mistakes.”

The purchase of the Columbus Park Crossing tract is easily the most money Chick-fil-A has spent on land in the Columbus market, according to city records.

▪  In 1998, the Bradley Park location was purchased for $600,000.

▪  In 2003, the property at 2421 Wynnton Road was purchased for $480,000.

▪  In 2010, the property at 6501 Kitten Lake Drive in Midland was purchased for $688,000.

▪  The most recent purchase at 2730 Manchester Expressway was $1.7 million. But there is room for additional development on the property. The new Chick-fil-A opened last week.

Chick-fil-A has been looking on the fringes of Columbus Park Crossing along north Veterans Parkway before taking the plunge into the heart of development. Chick-fil-A brings something to Columbus Park that has been missing, said Steven Cadranel, the developer of Columbus Park and managing partner of the Columbus Park Crossing South shopping center that includes Kohl’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods, T.J.Maxx, ULTA, Kirkland’s, PetCo, Wells Fargo, Red Robin and Southern States Bank.

“For all the restaurant options we have in Columbus Park, there are very few that offer either a quick casual in-store dining experience or an efficient drive-through option,” Cadranel said. “For our shoppers and employees on the go, Chick-fil-A is the answer they have been waiting for and will be a welcome complement to our many other restaurants.”

Still, more than $3 million for a single-store site?

“It does seem a little on the high side for the land,” Bickerstaff said. “But on the flip side, if there was already a Chick-fil-A on the property they purchased, what would it be worth?”

With three restaurants off J.R. Allen Parkway from Bradley Park to Midland, Chick-fil-A has the busy north Columbus corridor covered.

“When you look at Chick-fil-A, there are now only two obvious gaps in their market area,” Smallman said. “One of those is in south Columbus along Victory Drive and the other would be in the uptown area.”

This story was originally published June 27, 2017 at 5:44 PM with the headline "Columbus Park Crossing Chick-fil-A to be on the city’s most expensive acre."