Shrewsbury shopping center, former home of Christmas Tree Shops, sold for $13.6 million

SHREWSBURY ― Olde Shrewsbury Village, the shopping center that was the longtime home of the town’s now-defunct Christmas Tree Shops store, has a new owner.

According to closing paperwork filed Monday in the Worcester Registry of Deeds, a Fall River-based entity doing business as 1000 Boston Turnpike LLC bought the parcel for $13.6 million from the Yarmouthport-based Shrewsbury Village Limited Partnership.

In the transaction, Zi Qian Zhang is listed as manager of 100 Boston Turnpike LLC, while Jeffrey B. Bilezikian is listed as president and treasurer of Shrewsbury Village Limited Partnership.

Bilezikian’s parents, Charles and Doreen Bilezikian, bought The Christmas Tree Gift Shop in Yarmouth Port in 1970 and expanded the seasonal single-location over the next three decades, opening 24 more locations in New England and New York.

Zhang also owns and operates JZ Real Estate, also based out of Fall River. According to his website Zhang has “extensive experience” in running commercial shopping centers and continues to operate several throughout New England. He has also opened several restaurants, while developing and operating nearly 20 trampoline parks along America’s East Coast.

In 2003, Bed Bath & Beyond bought Christmas Tree Shops for $200 million and further expanded the retailer's footprint. Bed Bath & Beyond, which filed for bankruptcy in 2023, sold Christmas Tree Shops to the Middleborough-based Handil Holdings LLC, a private company, in November 2020 for an undisclosed amount of money.

Last year, the assessed value of Olde Shrewsbury Village, the shopping center where Christmas Tree Shops is located, was estimated to be $15,943,200, while the annual real-estate tax generated from the full 161,000-square-foot development is $209,175. The 68,758-square-foot parcel that was once the home of the Christmas Tree Shops was valued at $6,774,003, while the annual real-estate tax is $88,875.

Built on 22 acres on the Shrewsbury-Northborough line at Routes 9 and 20, the Olde Shrewsbury Village shopping center, at 1000 Boston Turnpike, opened in 1987 with 40 stores and two anchors, Christmas Tree Shops and Calverts.

It has since gone through a succession of management companies.

It was built by John M. Collins, David J. Adams and James A. Smith as Olde Shrewsbury Village Limited Partnership. Adams, president of C.K. Smith & Co., a Worcester oil business, was a general partner. Smith, vice president of C.K. Smith & Co., and Collins, a Shrewsbury lawyer, were limited partners.

A combination of lenders, with Bank of New England as lead bank, held mortgages on the 175,000-square-foot, 23-acre shopping center. Bank of New England held a $17 million mortgage on the center. Adams and Smith, the two other principals in Olde Shrewsbury Village Limited Partnership, also held an $800,000 mortgage on the property, before foreclosure proceedings against the partnership began.

In February 1990, after the owners defaulted on their mortgage, Bank of New England assumed financial control and began foreclosure proceedings. After Bank of New England failed and was taken over by Fleet Bank in January 1991, Olde Shrewsbury Village became the property of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

In 1992, Christmas Tree Shops Inc. bought the mall for $4 million from Recoll Management, a Fleet subsidiary that was formed to dispose of nonperforming assets of the failed Bank of New England for the FDIC.

Christmas Tree Shops Inc. began an extensive remake of Olde Shrewsbury Village with an investment that was substantially more than the original purchase price. When it attained ownership, Christmas Tree Shops demolished about 27 retail stores to give the shopping center a more open look and constructed additional parking.

Buildings were torn down along Route 9 to give the center more visibility and a more inviting appearance. These buildings, with about 21,000 square feet of retail space, also were taken down to create 125 additional parking spaces closer to the stores.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Olde Shrewsbury Village, former Christmas Tree Shops home, sold