Pullman Shopko building gets new landlord

The ownership of the Shopko building in Pullman has changed hands, but the ownership transfer does not effect the store.

The retail store was listed with the county real estate department for $6,733,333 on Dec. 2, 2015. The transfer listed Spirit Portfolio 2006 of Scottsdale, Ariz., as the previous owner and Elizabeth Trainer LLC of Portland as the new owner.

Michael Bohm, store manager in Pullman, said sales like this are common.

“It is surprisingly pretty common that the ownership changes hands,” he said. “It used to be all Shopko-owned, but not anymore.”

Shopko was founded in 1962 in Green Bay, Wis., and was purchased in 2005 by an affiliate of Sun Capital Partners, Inc., according to the “Our History” page on Shopko's website. This move changed Shopko from a publicly owned corporation to a privately owned corporation.

Michelle Hanson, public relations manager for Shopko in Wisconsin, said the ownership change just means that Shopko is paying rent for the building to a different owner.

“We rent out the building, so the landlord is just changing,” said Hanson. “We put our stuff in there, and we just pay them rent. So it's a different landlord and different company we are renting from, that's all.”