-- Griffin Ace Hardware Joins Long List Of Tenants --

Griffin Ace Hardware, one of the 4,600 stores comprising Ace Hardware Corp., the largest retailer-owned hardware cooperative in the industry, has announced plans to open a location at Liberty Station, according to Kimberly Elliott of The Corky McMillin Companies, developers of Liberty Station

Griffin Ace Hardware recently signed a 10-year lease for a 20,000-square-foot space in a refurbished building within the historic Sellers Plaza area of Liberty Station. It is the first tenant to sign a lease for the 47,000-square-foot building, which was the enlisted personnel club at the former Naval Training Center. The building at 2750 Dewey Road near NTC Park and Ingram Plaza is currently undergoing renovations and is scheduled to open in September of next year.

Real estate broker Jon Bilger of CBRE represented McMillin and Marty Olejarczyk of Retail Brokers, Inc., represented the tenant in the transaction.

“We chose Liberty Station to be home to our latest Griffin Ace Hardware because the area fits our market to a tee,” said Bill Griffin, chief executive officer for Griffin Ace Hardware. “Simply put, this store will be perfectly positioned to become the one-stop home-improvement store much needed in the community.”

The Griffin family has owned and operated hardware stores in Southern California for more than 50 years. The Griffin Ace Hardware at Liberty Station will be their fourth Ace location

Griffin Ace Hardware stores carry more than 25,000 hardware, tool, plumbing, electrical and lawn and garden products to meet the needs of local residents. They also offer a wide range of helpful services including screen repair, key duplicating, custom paint matching and propane tank exchange. For more information on Griffin Ace Hardware, visit griffinace.com.

The Sellers Plaza area of Liberty Station is adjacent to the Sail Ho Golf Club and is accessed through historic Gate One at Liberty Station, which recently reopened to the public. Sellers Plaza includes nine 1920s-era buildings totaling approximately 100,000 square feet of retail space with the golf course along one side and San Diego harbor and NTC Park on the other. Sellers Plaza will be reopened in late 2007. For leasing information at Sellers Plaza contact Ryan Hoover at (619) 226-5839.

The 361-acre Liberty Station community, being jointly developed by the City of San Diego and The Corky McMillin Companies, includes 125 acres of parks, open space and a boat channel; shopping villages and restaurants; a 28-acre civic, arts and cultural district; the nine-hole Sail Ho Golf Club; an additional hotel site across the boat channel, and six schools. Nearly 350 families now reside at Liberty Station and more than a dozen companies, with hundreds of employees, are doing business there.

Started in 1960 as a remodeling company and custom-home builder, The Corky McMillin Companies has grown into a fully integrated real estate investment, land development and home-building company operating in the California markets of San Diego, Bakersfield, Imperial Valley, Visalia and Fresno, as well as San Antonio, Texas, and Yuma, Arizona. Specializing in move-up products for second- and third-time home buyers, the company also provides closing services, mortgage, escrow and real estate brokerage services, in San Diego and Bakersfield.

Visit libertystation.com or mcmillin.com for more information.