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Copyright © 2002 Express Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Express Publishing Inc. is prohibited. 


For the week of Dec 31, 2002 - Jan 7, 2003

News

Paul’s Market site 
to be redeveloped

Sale of 21,000-square-foot 
building pending


By GREGORY FOLEY
Express Staff Writer

A Ketchum-based real-estate broker and a group of partners have entered into a contract to purchase the downtown Hailey building that houses Paul’s Market, and plan to redevelop the site as a retail shopping center.

John Sofro, a member of Associated Brokers of Sun Valley, said Friday that he and a group of investors plan to close a deal by the end of March to purchase the approximately 21,000-square-foot commercial structure, which now is home to one of three large supermarkets in Hailey. The others are Atkinson’s and Albertson’s.

Located on Main Street between Bullion and Carbonate streets, the building is one of most high-profile structures in Hailey.

"We’re planning to make it the most attractive building in Hailey," Sofro said.

Paul Kenny, broker for Colliers International of Ketchum, and the listing agency for the Paul‘s Market property, confirmed Friday that the property is under sale contract, but declined to disclose details about the pending sale or where Paul’s might be relocated.

However, Kenny said that the supermarket’s owner, Paul Zatica, intends to keep the business in operation somewhere in the Wood River Valley.

"He wants to stay in the valley," Kenny said. "He wants to do a new and improved store, and the first phase of that is selling the existing store."

Speculation is that Paul’s Market plans to relocate to the Bellevue site that now houses Valley Market, but a Valley Market manager Friday said the business does not plan to vacate its site in the near future.

Brian Ford, manager of Paul’s Market, declined to comment.

Zatica over the course of the last year has been actively seeking to relocate Paul’s Market. In February, he asked the Hailey Planning and Zoning Commission for permission to rezone part of the block between Hailey’s Main and River streets and Maple and Chestnut streets to accommodate a new 35,800-square-foot building and parking lot.

The city ultimately denied the proposal, and the plan was abandoned. The Paul’s Market property on Main Street has subsequently been for sale through most of 2002.

Sofro said he and his investment group buying the property will operate as an independent partnership, and he will act as the group’s principal and agent.

He explained the partners plan to redevelop the site as a first-class shopping center with seven commercial units that have frontage on Main Street. The development will include spaces that range in size from 700 to 7,000 square feet, he noted.

"We anticipate at least one new restaurant coming in, but I envision it as primarily retail," Sofro said. "There will be some tenants that are new to the area, and I think that will be a good thing."

Sofro said he is negotiating with the existing tenants of two retail sites on the north side of the building—A&H Cellular and JC Penney—to stay in their respective locations.

The partners intend to leave the primary structure of the building intact, but will remodel the entire interior and construct a new set of varied facades along the 300-foot frontage on Main Street, Sofro said.

The planned design of the new facades will feature "historical, turn-of-the-century" architecture, and materials that include brick, stone and stucco, he noted.

The plan also calls for outdoor, patio-style seating and new landscaping.

"We want to improve the look of the central business district," Sofro said. "Clearly, the growth of the valley is south, not north."

Indeed, Sofro in the last year has shown considerable interest in Hailey real estate. He is an active partner with Ketchum resident Jeff Smith in a project to redevelop the former Ironwood Tennis Club in Woodside as The Club at Copper Ranch. The new tennis club opened last fall, and the partners intend to remodel part of the development into a quality health club and spa set to open in 2003.

Kenny said the sale of the Paul’s Market building is scheduled to close in March. "I think it will be a nice addition to Hailey," he said of the proposed redevelopment.

Sofro said managers of Paul’s have asked to be allowed to stay in the building for 60 days after the closure of the deal to relocate their equipment.

"I think they plan to leave by June 1," he said.

 

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