This nearly 130,000 square foot former Walmart building has been vacant since 2018, when megaretailer moved across the street to occupy the former Dan Gamel Camp America Store. Photo via Google Street View

The property featuring Fresno’s largest single-story commercial vacancy has found a new owner.

Fifteen acres beneath the former Walmart building on West Shaw Avenue was recently sold to a local businessman, according to Steve Rontell, senior vice president with real estate brokerage Colliers International.

The nearly 130,000-square-foot-building has been vacant since 2018, when Walmart moved across the street to occupy the former Dan Gamel Camp America Store.

Rather than leasing the building, Walmart had been leasing the ground, said Rontell. The lease goes until the end of 2021, though Walmart has expressed a willingness to terminate the lease should a new occupant be found, Rontell said.

The sale includes land to the west of the building, which means the current building could be expanded to over 150,000 square feet.

The building is zoned as regional mixed-use, which is a broad zoning allowing for office, recreation, sports or even a college or government office in addition to retail, Rontell said. The building could also be split up.

Despite nearly three years of vacancy, Rontell said Walmart has maintained the building, keeping security in the area vigilant.

Even as attention has drifted northward to Marketplace at El Paseo, Rontell said West Shaw is a still very desirable for tenants. Population west of Highway 99 has boomed and a third high school in the Central Unified School District reflects the growth in the area.

Even big-box spaces such as the new Walmart space have not been vacant for long. When Super Kmart closed, it became an RV dealership. Walmart purchased the building in 2012, according to a spokesperson with Walmart in a 2017 story by The Business Journal.

Gamel purchased the building from Kmart in 2003, spending $12 million to renovate.

A deed filed with the Fresno County Recorder’s Office listed Ibrahim Alwareeth as the owner of the old Walmart building. LinkedIn lists Alwareeth as the owner of West Coast Tires & Auto Center.

Rontell said there as many non-retail uses that would work there as there are retail uses.

“We think we’re going to be very successful in getting new business there, retail or non-retail,” Rontell said.