Thursday, October 30, 1997

Midland firm buys River Oaks Village

By DOUG WILLIAMSON / Business Editor

Red Oak Realty of Midland has purchased River Oaks Village shopping center in Abilene.

The 41-year-old, 140,827-square-foot center at South 14th and Willis, was the city's first shopping center.

Neill McClung, president of Red Oak Realty, said River Oaks fits the company's acquisition criteria "because of a unique blend of neighborhood convenience and high-end retailers in a beautiful courtyard setting."

"We look for irreplaceable locations that are real stable and are in upper demographics," he said. "We try to buy very solid assets that are undervalued."

He said the company is buying retail properties in tertiary markets.

Red Oak, a real estate investment and development company that specializes in the acquisition and management of income-production properties, owns nine other retail shopping centers in five Southwestern cities. Additional Red Oak retail properties are in Midland, San Angelo, San Antonio, Odessa, Tulsa and Tucson.

River Oaks is comparable to Plaza Oaks in Midland, the first property purchased by the four-year-old company, McClung said.

Red Oak is now also purchasing office and mixed-use buildings in central business districts.

River Oaks is not the first property in Abilene that McClung and his company have considered.

"We've looked at the Mall of Abilene twice -- once about two-and-a-half years ago and again about six months ago. We looked at it pretty hard, but were not the successful bidder," he said.

Officials of the Mall of Abilene declined comment, however it is believed that the sale of the mall by Aetna Life Insurance Co. could happen within a few weeks. The prospective buyer is unnamed.

"We will keep looking at Abilene," McClung said.