"Jones Lang LaSalle has been hired to market a 110+ property portfolio of developable retail parcels, including potential franchise sites," Ponticiello said in a statement provided to CSP Daily News. "The well-situated sites are located in established, [image-nocss] highly trafficked retail areas in key markets throughout the Midwest and East Coast. These are surplus and idle properties that BP has been planning to divest for many, many months. The decision to divest them pre-dates the April oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and is aligned with the company's plans to exit from direct service station ownership that were announced a few years ago."
BP's U.S. Convenience Retail unit announced a plan in November 2007 to sell its approximately 700 company-owned and -operated retail sites over a two-year period. This approach is in line with BP's strategic plans to expand and grow the ampm brand to reach more consumers with its products and services, the company has said. (Click here for previous CSP Daily News coverage.)
Since announcing its intention, BP has sold or is selling sites in central Florida, Cleveland, Columbus, Ohio, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Chicago, northwest Indiana, Arizona, California, Oregon and Washington, among other markets.
The majority of the properties are being marketed as redevelopment sites, said Dow Jonesas reported in a Morgan Keegan/CSP Daily News Flash yesterdaywhile some are being offered as part of potential franchise deals, according to the website of Jones Lang LaSalle.
Click herefor an overview of the portfolio.
Jones Lang LaSalle declined to comment on any reputational risk that BP has in marketing the properties, which began approximately two weeks ago.
Ponticiello added, "While we cannot comment on specific interest in the portfolio due to the confidentiality of the process, the opportunity to acquire these key retail redevelopment opportunities should attract a wide array of potential users, developers and investors."
Eric Anton, an executive managing director at New York City-based real-estate investment service Eastern Consolidated, told the news agency that the negative publicity from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico "may create more buzz" for the properties because buyers may assume they may have an advantage on pricing terms.
"From a buyer's point of view, psychologically, they know BP has to raise cash. So, [buyers] want to get in there while the getting is good," Anton said.
BP did not respond to inquiries about the sale by press time.
Jones Lang LaSalle is a financial and professional services firm specializing in real estate. With 2009 global revenue of $2.5 billion, it serves clients in 60 countries. The firm is an industry leader in property and corporate facility management services, with a portfolio of approximately 1.6 billion square feet worldwide. LaSalle Investment Management, the company's investment management business, is one of the world's largest and most diverse in real estate with approximately $40 billion of assets under management.
BP markets more than 15 billion gallons of gasoline every year to U.S. consumers through 13,000 retail outlets. The company is the single, global brand formed by the combination of the former British Petroleum, Amoco, Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) and Burmah Castrol. The ampm brand was founded in 1978 in Southern California by ARCO. The brand became part of BP when it acquired ARCO in 2000.
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