Reno company buys long-vacant Kmart building

A Reno-based company purchased the former Super Kmart in Carson City last week with the intent of developing the 178,000 square foot building for commercial use.

The building, in the North Town Plaza shopping center, has been vacant for about seven years. It sold on June 11 for $1.5 million to Jiangson Duke, LLC., according to the city recorder's office.

Jiangson Duke, LLC., registered with the state on April 1 and lists two officers: Jack Rao of Sparks and Weiye Lin of Reno, according to the Secretary of State's office.

Marc Picker, a Reno attorney who represents Jiangson, said the company has been in talks to buy the property for the last four months.

"There are tentative plans to renovate the building and make it a functioning retail facility," Picker said, adding the company is looking at businesses to potentially fill the space. "It is not an investment property. It is an intent to develop it and put it back into useful activity."

He added the company wants to move quickly, but will have to renovate the building, which has been empty since Kmart closed in 2003.

Cypress Equities, a Dallas-based equity company, bought the building in 2006 for about $6.7 million, but never managed to fill the property with a new tenant.

The Wilmington Trust Co. of Delaware owns the underlying land.

The North Town Plaza shopping center has struggled ever since Kmart declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2003 and closed its Carson City location that was built in 1994.