The man who brought us the modern day version of the Fairplain Plaza and has been responsible for bringing many retailers to Michigan’s Great Southwest including his own Slumberland Furniture store has sold that franchise back to the corporate team in Richfield, Minnesota. Jim Paul says he closed the deal ten days ago on June 15th and will move on to other things in his business empire.
Thus, Benton Harbor Slumberland on Napier Avenue just off the corner of Union Avenue is now a corporate owned and operated entity, and the buying public should find virtually no change there other than the departure of Mr. Paul. As Jim says, “Our talented sales team remains and are eager to assist the residents of Southwest Michigan with all of their furniture and mattress needs.”
Paul says corporate leaders will assure that the region “will continue to enjoy the same great furniture, mattresses, guaranteed low prices and service that we have provided over the past seven years.”
Jim Paul is the Chicagoland developer who entered the market years ago and performed a dramatic makeover of the Fairplain Plaza, removing old, unserviceable buildings and storefronts and extensively renovating others while also adding the entirely new strip that houses TJ Maxx, Xfinity, Pet Smart and many other stores in that shopping center. He was the man who helped attract major retailers to the center including Dunham Sports, Kohl’s, the former Target, Michaels, Pier 1 Imports and many others.
He was also responsible for attracting other retailers to the region who ended up in other developments or elected to purchase available land elsewhere in the market such as Best Buy, the former ABC Warehouse, and a number of other businesses both past and present.
The current iteration of the Fairplain Plaza was developed by Jim Paul of JPA Real Estate Associates, who sold the shopping center to D.D.R. of Beechwood, Ohio. D.D.R. later sold the Plaza in December of 2016 to a major Michigan shopping center developer responsible for more than 30-million square feet of retail space since they were founded some 30-years ago, Lormax Stern Development, based in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
Seven years ago Paul decided to take more than half of the former Jewel-Osco building on Napier that he had owned for several years and convert it into the sizable Slumberland Furniture store which has flourished in Michigan’s Great Southwest ever since arriving here.
So what’s next for Jim Paul? He says, “I plan to dedicate more time to other business interests, my local real estate holdings and to my Cornerstone Chamber of Commerce and Leadership Council positions.” He adds, “I want to thank my employees for their dedication and assistance over the years and offer a huge Thank You to the wonderful people of Southwest Michigan, who, by their support, helped bring and keep an incredibly well-run and family-oriented retailer — Slumberland Furniture — to our community.”
Jim Paul launched JPA Real Estate Associates more than 33 years ago. He earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance & Real Estate in 1976 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers and a past winner of the Merlin Hanson Challenge Award from Cornerstone Alliance.
Paul also owned the small strip center in front of the Fairplain Plaza which houses Game Stop, Batteries Plus Bulbs, Joost Vapor, and the forthcoming new GNC center which is relocating from The Orchards Mall to that center. He rehabilitated that facility and sold it several years later, much as he has done with other real estate holdings around Benton Charter Township.
