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Sheldon Stone, 78, owner of two downtown Detroit businesses -- a clothing store and pawn shop -- is retiring and selling his properties to Dan GIlbert's Bedrock.
"I have been working in Detroit for most of my life and at 78 it’s the right time to retire," Stone says Tuesday in a release. "This is not a sad day, it’s exciting to see the rebirth of the city and everything going on downtown and I look forward to seeing the continued development."
Financial details are not disclosed. Liquidation sales will be held at both business.
J.L. Stone has been around since 1952
The longtime merchant owns J.L. Stone at 1231 Broadway, and Cash City Pawn, 1300 Randolph St., which he has run since 1992. In addition to buying those buildings, Bedrock also will be purchase Stone's office building at 1237 Broadway.
The sale will add to Gilbert's voluminous portfolio downtown, where real estate values are on the rise.
"We are excited. Sheldon approached us about acquiring his properties," Bedrock CEO Jim Ketai says in a statement. "The intersection at Broadway and Randolph is an important one as it relates to the bulk of our footprint as well as downtown Detroit itself. We are developing plans to bring in several retail, dining and entertainment destinations."
Stone began working as a stock boy at J.L. Stone, which the family started in 1952. He purchased it in the early 1970’s.
Stone emphasized that he contacted Bedrock, not the other way around.
“When I decided it was time, I reached out to Bedrock to gauge their interest in purchasing the buildings," he said. "My family has a great deal of history in these buildings and I know whatever Bedrock decides to do with them, they will be good stewards.”
The pawnshop has stopped accepting pawned items and is contacting customers who have items pawned at the store.
"To have worked in downtown Detroit for so many years has been one of the great joys of my life," he said in a statement. "I am now seeing the great-grandchildren of our first customers purchasing clothes at the store, it is such a wonderful feeling and I want to do something great for them."
