Northlight Investment Partners bought the Ellard Mercantile Exchange

Flagstar Bank has sold a foreclosed retail center in Alpharetta, Ga., near Atlanta, for $4 million. Northlight Investment Partners paid $93 per sq. ft. for the center, Ellard Mercantile Exchange.

Built in 2007, the 43,000 sq. ft. retail center is currently mostly vacant. The sale closed on July 30.

“We are seeing an increase in foreclosed retail properties becoming available and expect this to continue through 2011. Banks will start to sell more of their properties now that some have had success in raising capital and are starting to see positive earnings” says Kyle Stonis, a partner with Bull Realty, the commercial real estate firm hired by the bank to market the property.

The mercantile center was intended as an upscale shopping destination in the suburbs north of Atlanta. It features some stained glass windows from Germany, as well as massive, 10-ft., 200-year-old English oak doors, according to a property listing.

Ellard Mercantile Exchange was completed just as the retail market began to decline, according to the realty firm.

Five new tenants have agreed to lease space at the center, according to Bull Realty.

The commercial real estate broker also represents the newly built Shops of Breckenridge Center in Duluth, Ga. It, too has been foreclosed, and is being sold by Ameris Bank.

Additional financially distressed properties the realty firm is marketing include a grocery-anchored center in Orlando, Fla., and a mall in Worthington, Minn. The realty firm provides marketing and special asset services for 74 banks, receivers, trustees and servicers.