Southport Plaza gains tenant

Jan. 26, 2001 - Southport Plaza, rescued from its deathbed a year ago by a Texas-based real estate investment firm, appears well on its way to recovery. And all it took was a little tender loving care from the plaza's new owners.

When the 12-store shopping plaza was purchased in late 1999 by CC Realty Advisors of Houston, their first move was to improve the appearance of the plaza's 300-car parking lot and the two buildings, containing 64,000 square feet of retail space.

CC Realty specializes in purchasing and rehabilitating run-down shopping plazas and has acquired about 20 plazas -- all more than 50,000 square feet -- across the country.

"We are a private company for investors who want to get into the real estate market but don't want the hassles. We create an investment fund and go out and get the real estate," Frank Banko, CC Realty's vice president of acquisition, said from the firm's Pittsburgh-area branch office.

After CC Realty buys and repairs the properties, they are turned over to local brokers for management. Pyramid Brokerage Company in Corning is marketing and managing Southport Plaza.

It didn't take long after the purchase -- about three months -- before the revamped plaza caught the eye of Waverly resident Holly Tappan, whose Curves for Women fitness center was the new plaza's first tenant. It opened in March.

"It was the first place that we looked at and it just felt right. They did all the remodeling and the rent was within our budget," Tappan said.

First Investors Corp. will become the latest business to call the once-vacant plaza home when it moves in in February. In addition to Curves for Women, other tenants at the plaza are Blimpie's and Valu Home Center, which will occupy the former Acme market site.

For First Investors, the move means more space. The firm is moving from a 1,000-square-foot office on West Water Street in Elmira to the 2,100-square-foot storefront formerly occupied by The First National Bank of Rochester, said Al Troisi, office manager and assistant vice president.

Troisi has been interviewing job candidates for his soon-to-be-expanded staff. First Investors, based on Wall Street, has 60 branch offices nationwide that manage more than $6.5 billion in assets. The company is in the midst of a national expansion program.

The Elmira First Investors branch office has seen its number of new clients double in the past year, Troisi said, and he wants to keep pace by doubling the number of investment counselors at his branch office.

"We now have nine with six more in training and are looking to put on six more who will be licensed within the next two months," he said.

Troisi said he was lured to Southport Plaza because of its recent growth. "(Valu Home Center) is going in and other tenants are coming into the plaza. With Downtown catering to the arena, much of the retail and service businesses may be flocking to the Southport area," he said.

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