Last May, PJR Properties LLC purchased Brookfield’s Ruby Isle Shopping Center for $17.8 million. PJR is an investment group affiliated with Piggly Wiggly Midwest LLC. The previous owner was the Ruby family, which built the shopping center in the 1960’s, according to Milwaukee Business News.
As an investor, Ruby Isle’s new owner bought the property purely as a real estate opportunity. Chief operating officer (COO) Gary Suokko of Piggly Wiggly Midwest explained the company will be “strictly a landlord,” as written by the Milwaukee Business Journal. All tenants within the shopping center will still have leases between their parent companies and Ruby Isle. Even Pick ‘n Save, the anchor tenant that attracts customers to Ruby Isle, will operate as it has been, despite being a Piggly Wiggly supermarket competitor. Unless the stores themselves decide not to renew their leases, all things will remain as they are.
Piggly Wiggly Midwest made a similar purchase May 16, just two days before the Ruby Isle deal closed. According to The Produce News, the company bought three Joe Caputo and Sons grocery stores for $32 million in light of the Caputo and Sons’ financial issues. These stores are located in Illinois. Still, just like in Brookfield, Piggly Wiggly Midwest and PJR plan to keep all stores running, showing how the family-friendly grocery chain may be beginning to expand in a new way.
Regardless of the drastic change, Ruby Isle experienced a seemingly smooth transition in owners.