Plymouth Road retail center in Ann Arbor to be renovated after sale

The Plymouthview retail center is located at 1750 Plymouth Road, across the street from The Courtyard Shops. Among the tenants: Bagel Fragel, Northside Liquor, AAA, Marco’s Pizza and Nagomi Sushi.

The purchase comes eight months after the company - which owns and manages properties totaling about 1 million square feet - raised close to $8 million to invest in distressed properties throughout the Ann Arbor region. The investment fund, called the Ann Arbor Opportunity Fund, uses the cash raised from 40 different investors to acquire properties and turn them around.

Plymouthview is the second acquisition for the fund, after Oxford Cos. bought 62,000 square feet of office space on South Industrial Highway, north of Eisenhower Parkway, in August.

Immediate plans for the Plymouth Road retail center include facade and parking lot improvements.

Oxford Cos. purchased the retail center after the bank foreclosed on the property last year. In August, a fire caused about $25,000 of damage to the strip mall and it was never completely repaired.

“Funds were not available to make necessary repairs, including a complete replacement of the parking lot,” Jeff Hauptman, president of Oxford Cos., said in an email. “We’ll be taking care of all of these items.”

He called the retail center a good long-term investment that offers good upside to the buyer. He declined to name the purchase price.

The property was assessed at $700,900 in 2011, giving it an estimated market value of about $1.4 million. It had been registered to developer Michael Concannon, according to state records.

There are two 1,200-square-foot vacancies in the retail center, and Hauptman said Oxford will make “significant repairs to the property” before marketing the vacancies for lease.

Hauptman said Oxford Cos. continues to “actively” search for more properties to invest in and hopes to use the remainder of the fund in coming months.

The company owns several major properties in the Ann Arbor area, including South University Galleria and the Burlington Office Center on Eisenhower Parkway.