June 15, 2007

Salem Furniture World properties bought by Taurus Investment Holdings

SALEM - Taurus Investment Holdings LLC, a real estate investment firm with offices in Boston and around the world, has bought two Salem properties once part of the Furniture World chain.

Through affiliated companies, Taurus bought the site of Furniture World's old store at 419 South Broadway and the site of the old Leather Expressions store at 26 Lowell Road. In total, according to tax stamp data on file with the Rockingham County Registry of Deeds, Taurus paid $11.35 million for the properties, $6.075 million of which was for the 26 Lowell Road location.

Taurus officials didn't immediately return a request for comment.

The seller in the transaction was JLPK-FW LLC, an affiliate of SB Capital Group, one of the companies that entered into a financial alliance with Furniture World in the last months of its operation.

Under the terms of that deal, which were undisclosed, the Furniture World and Mattress World chains sold their New Hampshire real estate to an investment group that included SB Capital, Kimco Realty, the Nassi Group and senior executives of Planned Furniture Promotions, according to the Furniture Today trade journal. The chains then leased back the properties from the investors. One of the properties involved in that deal, the huge Furniture Mall property at 1300 S. Porter St., was sold for $13.1 million, according to real estate records.

SB Capital is an affiliate of Columbus, Ohio-based department store operator Schottenstein Stores Corp., which owns chains including Value City Furniture, DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse and American Eagle Outfitters.

Furniture World, once New Hampshire 's largest furniture business, closed its doors earlier this year after more than 30 years in business.

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