Four years after the beloved Benny’s discount retail chain closed operations, its 3.8-acre Bristol plaza has sold to new owners. Two weeks ago, REC Properties LLC purchased the vacant building and large parking lot at 655 Metacom Ave. for $2.1 million.

This is the second time the property has changed hands since the family-run Benny’s franchise ceased operations at its 31 locations at the end of 2017. The Johnston-based Carpionato Group purchased the majority of the Benny’s properties, including the parcel just north of the Stop and Shop plaza in Bristol. That sale was recorded in April of 2018, for $1,569,000.

Carpionato Group invested in many of the Benny’s properties throughout southern New England, and within two years had leased 75 percent of the properties to major retailers like Dollar General, Ace Hardware, Harbor Freight Tools, Ocean State Job Lot, Dollar Tree and O’Reilly’s Auto Parts.

It never found a tenant for the Bristol store, which has remained vacant for more than four years.

The new owner is a corporation formed just prior to the acquisition, with Bristol attorney Steven Hudak listed as the agent, and Zachary Rivers, owner of Judge Roy Bean’s restaurant on State Street, identified as the authorized signer on the entity’s articles of incorporation. Calls to Rivers were not returned before press time.

New “For Lease” signs on the front of the building, which contains nearly 30,000 square feet of space, according to town tax records, are offering leases for 2,000 up to 20,000 square feet of space.