Les Schwab Tire Center

By mid-2022 I had already completed several deals with Les Schwab Tire Centers and had a good feel for their real estate strategy. When they told me they were expanding into North Dakota and South Dakota, I spent a lot of time hunting those markets for sites.
 

One market that stood out was Yankton, South Dakota.

While studying the trade area, I noticed an older steakhouse sitting on 2.3 acres at a full-access intersection near Walmart. Strong traffic. Great visibility. To me, it looked like a perfect Les Schwab location.

Of course, it wasn’t for sale. So I cold-called the owner.

During our conversations, I learned he owned both the real estate and the restaurant. COVID had been tough. Food and labor costs were rising, staffing was difficult, and he was ready to move on. He wanted out.

We worked out a deal that made sense for both of us, and I placed the property under contract with nine months of due diligence and 30 days to close.

When I presented the site to Les Schwab, they were immediately interested, and we moved quickly through the lease. Then the survey came back. A 10-foot power easement ran directly through the middle of the property, right where the building needed to go.
 

At first glance, it looked like a deal killer.

But when I studied the aerials more closely, something didn’t add up. A newer development north of the site had a building sitting exactly where the easement should have continued.

Nobody builds inside an active easement. That told me there was a chance it had been abandoned.

The easement dated back to the 1950s, so tracking down the holder required a series of cold calls to multiple power companies before I finally reached the right person. After about a week of persistence, he confirmed the easement was no longer being used and agreed to abandon it.

Then he told me to call him after I bought the property. That wasn’t going to work.

I wasn’t buying the property unless the easement was gone. So we signed the release and placed it into escrow with title to record at closing.

With that solved, the rest of the deal moved forward smoothly.

One other piece required careful management. The seller was operating a business he had never planned to close before I approached him, so communication was constant.

At each step, I kept him updated: lease signed, site approved, easement resolved, city approvals, and permits.

We closed the transaction, the seller was able to retire, and Les Schwab secured a prime location in Yankton that is now open and performing well.