By Ben Antonius | Daily Republic | November 13, 2009
Part of the former Mervyns location at Westfield Solano mall may be getting a new tenant. The bankruptcy of Mervyns left behind empty retail space in its Fairfield and Vacaville locations for more than a year. Photo by Brad Zweerink
FAIRFIELD - The bankruptcy of clothier Mervyns left gaping holes in the shopping scenes of both Fairfield and Vacaville.
Now, after more than a year, those gaps may be starting to close. Jim Shepherd of real estate group Cornish & Carey announced at an Oct. 29 forum on the local real estate market that Forever 21 had agreed to take over the top floor of the store in Fairfield, and Burlington Coat Factory would move into the Vacaville store.
Shepherd could not be reached for comment Friday.
City Project Manager Karl Dumas said property owner Developers Diversified Realty is 'pretty close' with at least one tenant for the Fairfield store. However, Dumas said he is not aware of any formal arrangements being made.
Forever 21 has been highly active is snapping up vacated Mervyns stores around California during the last year. The retailer, which specializes in fashionable clothing for young women and men, obtained more than a dozen leases as part of Mervyns' liquidation process.
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The store's size -- 88,000 square feet -- could make it difficult to fill in one fell swoop but Dumas said there may be other options. In October, seasonal retailer Halloween Spirit split the building and operated their store out of only the top floor.
'In today's economy, there are not a lot of retailers that are that size (88,000 square feet) that are looking to expand, so the space may end up with a couple different uses there,' Dumas said.
Even leasing a single floor would be about 40,000 square feet, much larger than Forever 21's traditional stores. However, in the last year the company has started launching a large store concept under the 'Forever 21 XXI' brand. The XXI stores range from 30,000 to 100,000 square feet, and many have been opened in former Mervyns sites.
See the complete story at the Daily Republic online.
