LL Flooring sells Henrico distribution center for $104M

Read more: LL Flooring to sell 219 stores; 211 other stores set to close

LL Flooring has sold its eastern Henrico County distribution center to a limited liability company for $104.75 million, according to documents the Henrico-based flooring company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday.

Formerly known as Lumber Liquidators, LL Flooring filed for bankruptcy in August and announced it was pursuing a sale of its business, according to SEC documents. Before entering Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, however, the company worked with JLL to find a buyer for its 995,792-square-foot distribution center on 97.55 acres in Sandston.

SNA NE LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, is the buyer of that property, and according to federal bankruptcy court documents, is “the largest landowner in the White Oak Technology Park,” where the LL Flooring property is located. In a document filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware on Aug. 30, Chad Williams signed an agreement as CEO of the purchaser, SNA NE LLC. Williams is chairman and CEO of Kansas-based QTS Data Centers, which has built a data center campus in Henrico County’s White Oak Technology Park and announced in 2022 plans to expand it by 1.5 million square feet. As of July, QTS has purchased all 622 acres of White Oak Technology Park II but did not share project details.

Under the LL Flooring contract’s terms, the buyer will lease back the building to LL Flooring for six months at no cost, and the flooring company can terminate the lease on 60 days’ notice. The deal must be approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Brendan L. Shannon, and the parties are set to hold a hearing Wednesday. The transaction is expected to close Sept. 30.

According to Henrico County property records, an LLC connected with LL Flooring owns the 97.55-acre property at 6115 Technology Creek Drive, which is adjacent to two plots of land owned by QTS Data Centers.

In its August bankruptcy filing, LL Flooring said it planned to close 94 stores out of its more than 300 stores across the country. In 2019, LL Flooring was forced to pay $33 million to settle allegations of securities fraud, and sales fell in fiscal 2023 to $904.7 million, down from $1.11 billion in fiscal 2022. In June 2023, LL Flooring’s board rejected an unsolicited acquisition proposal from Cabinets to Go, a subsidiary of F9 Brands, which then began a proxy fight.

Representatives for LL Flooring and Henrico County declined to comment on the transaction, and QTS did not respond immediately to a request for comment.