REAL ESTATE

Phillips Edison, a major player in grocery-anchored centers with more than 270 properties across the U.S., has announced three key senior management promotions. 

Eric Richte

PizzaRev, a build-your-own fast-casual pizza concept, began its expansion into Tennessee this week with the opening of a Memphis location. The grand opening at 6450 Poplar Avenue was celebrated with an all-day fundraiser for Le Bonheur Children’s Research Hospital.   Two additional locations are under construction in Memphis, and another is underway in Nashville. PizzaRev currently franchises and operates 47 stores and has more than 200 others under development in 17 states, Washington, D.C., and Mexico.  

Gavin Walsh has joined Trademark Property Co. as a senior leasing representative focused on mixed-use properties in Texas. They include Waterside in Fort Worth, Watters Creek in Allen, and Hillside Village in Cedar Hill.   Walsh arrives at the Fort Worth-based developer from The Shopping Center Group in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he handled a portfolio exceeding three million sq. ft. He also worked as a broker for Katz & Associates in the state.  

Every year after the holidays the same topics seem to dominate media coverage of the retail industry. The numbers are in, who’s closing stores? Who’s going out of business? Who are this year’s casualties in the great Clicks vs. Bricks War? This focus on post-holiday attrition is part of a larger conversation about the future of retail, one often tinged by notes of panic, dire predictions, and dramatic pronouncements such as: Online retail is damaging brick-and-mortar. Malls are dead! Retailers are shuttering hundreds of stores! 

Schostak Brothers has added six multi-tenant properties to its “Shadow Walmart” portfolio of retail space adjoining supercenters, bringing it to a total of 67. The new additions are located in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.   “In the last decade, we have pursued an aggressive growth strategy in order to assemble one of the largest Walmart Supercenter shadow-anchored shopping center portfolios in the United States,” said Schostak COO Warren Strietzel.  

Whole Foods Market has announced the first Northeast location for its streamlined and value-oriented 365 by Whole Foods Market concept.   The retailer will open a 365 store in Brooklyn, New York, in the Fort Greene neighborhood, not far from the Barclay Center. The opening date was not announced.   Whole Foods debuted the 365 format in 2016, and has opened three locations to date, in Silver Lake, Calif; Bellevue, Wash., and Lake Oswego, Oregon.  

Another apparel retailer is looking to downsize its store portfolio.   BCBG Max Azria Group plans to close some stores as it turns its focus to licensing, e-commerce and selling through other retailers, Bloomberg reported.     

Though General Growth Properties has long been most commonly known as GGP in the retail industry, the big mall owner has now made it official.   Effective Jan. 27, the big mall owner with 126 properties in 40 states, officially changes its name to GGP. Founded in 1954 to develop grocery-anchored strip centers, GGP evolved into one of the largest providers of A-level mall space.