Acquisitions

BESSEMER, ALA. — Range Light Investment Partners has acquired the former Mall at Westlake, a 323,000-square-foot shopping and dining destination located southwest of Birmingham in Bessemer, Ala. The Ohio-based investment firm plans to redevelop the property into an industrial flex complex that will be known as Marvel City Business Park. The former mall, which originally opened in 1969, permanently closed 40 years later in 2009 after retail activity migrated elsewhere, according to Range Light, leaving the property available for alternative purposes. “Shopping malls built from the 1960s through the 1990s were the distribution centers of that era,” says Pat Foran, founder of Range Light Investment Partners. “All of the features that made them great malls years ago are the same features light industrial and flex tenants are looking for today.” “There are many more tenants looking for 30,000 to 50,000 square feet than 300,000 to 500,000 square feet in the Birmingham area, and there are virtually no options for them,” adds Foran. “Marvel City Business Park will cater to those smaller bay-sized tenants that don’t need 36-foot-high ceilings and want more affordable rent than what the newer big box developments demand.” Situated on a 40-acre site at the intersection of interstates …