New tenant expected soon for former Fitchburg Kmart
The long-vacant former Kmart department store in the Twin Cities Plaza is expected to soon have a new tenant, and it’s down to two big-name stores, according to Leo Xarras, of Colwen Hotels, the owner of the building.
“We’re in conversations with a couple of (companies) to refill the space,” Xarras said.
“It will either be a new building … or rehabbing the current building,” Xarras said, adding that they expect to know who the tenant will be and whether it will be a renovation or new building in the next three to six months.
Both of the companies considering the site would be “retail … one with a gas component and one not.”
And both companies already operate in the Fitchburg-Leominster area, and would relocate, Xarras said.
“Both are crazy successful businesses and both want to be located in Fitchburg and Leominster, and that’s one of the best spots in the area,” Xarras said.
“I think it’s good news for the city,” Xarras said.
The 100,620-square-foot building, at 140 Whalon St., built in 1970, was sold by Fitchburg MFB LLC on October 2025 for $5.6 million to RB Salt Lake LLC, and then transferred for a $1 to RB/LX Fitchburg LLC on March 23 of this year, which was a transfer between different members of the same family ownership group, which is all affiliated with Colwen Hotels, Xarras said.
But he said that while his company is a hotel chain, it won’t be a hotel going in there.
The idea for a hotel was considered, but the fact that the site straddles the Fitchburg/Leominster line complicated matters enough to remove that option, according to Fitchburg Community Development & Planning Executive Director Liz Murphy.
Murphy said the city has been working with Xarras. She said the city was informed that “they have a large retailer that is looking to” use the former Kmart site.
She said the idea of putting a hotel there was suggested, but it ran into a snag as the former Kmart building is in Fitchburg, but the city line is right on the doorstep, and the parking lot is in Leominster, so all the permitting would have to go through twice as much red tape and be approved by both cities, so she was told the idea was dropped.
“They said there’s a lot more commercial interest in the Fitchburg area now, and that is a great location and they have someone that they’re working with,” to use the former Kmart parcel, Murphy said.
Xarras explained that Kmart was paying rent for the empty building for years, up until two years ago, hoping to find another store to sublet the building, but that never materialized. With the purchase of the building last October, and the realignment in March, he said they are ready to move ahead and get a big box store in there. He said the problem with the store being vacant so long was more a function of Kmart still paying the rent for most of that time, and that once that ended, they didn’t have any difficulty getting stores interested in the site.