Finance & Capital Management

Chicago -- Commercial real estate firm Lee & Associates said it has added two senior VPs to its Chicago office.

Joseph Herron and Jason Sorce have both joined Lee & Associates Chicago as part of the firm’s expansion in the Midwest.

The firm also recently added Robyn Smart as a senior advisor in its Indianapolis office.

Herron joins Lee & Associates from Mid-America Real Estate Corp., where he spent 10 years as a retail broker. Sorce was previously with SRS Real Estate Partners and NAI Hiffman.

Woodland Hills, Calif. -- LandMark Retail Group, a subsidiary of NewMark Merrill Cos., has partnered with Accubranch, a strategic planning and market research group that specializes in providing real estate advice to the regional banking industry.

Seattle -- Nordstorm plans to open a Nordstrom Rack in Manchester, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis.
 
The new 35,000-sq.-ft. store is scheduled to open in fall 2012. Construction of the store will begin immediately, according to Mark Sedgwick, managing director of St. Louis-based Pace Properties, L.L.C., which will develop and own the building where Nordstrom Rack will be located.
 

MINNEAPOLIS — Target announced that it will retain the naming rights for the Target Center, which is home to the Minnesota Timberwolves, through a three-year extended agreement with AEG Facilities, which manages the stadium, and the Timberwolves. Under the new agreement, Target will have naming rights for the stadium through 2014. 

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Same-store sales growth and a number of new store opening helped Autozone deliver another impressive quarter, while helping the company maintain its position as a leading automotive parts retailer for both everyday consumers and professionals.

Autozone reported net sales of $2.6 billion for its fourth quarter ended Aug. 27, an increase of 8.1% from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010. Domestic same-store sales increased 4.5% for the quarter.

Dallas -- 7-Eleven is acquiring the retail interests of 28 locations owned by Pacific Convenience & Fuels LLC.

The acquisition includes sites in California, Oregon, Washington and Colorado, and is slated to close in fourth quarter 2011. Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.

All of the locations will be rebranded as 7-Eleven and will retain the Conoco-Phillips/76 gasoline brands.

New York City -- Barnes & Noble said Tuesday that the FTC has granted early termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, allowing investor Liberty Media to move forward with its stock purchase in the bookseller.

Barnes & Noble announced on Aug. 18 that Liberty Media invested an aggregate of $204 million in the company through the purchase of newly issued convertible preferred stock, totaling a 16.6% interest in Barnes and Noble.

Memphis -- AutoZone reported Tuesday that profit for the quarter ended Aug. 27 rose 12% to $301.5 million, compared with $268.9 million in the year-ago period.

Sales rose 8.1% to $2.64 billion from $2.45 billion, topping Wall Street expectations of $2.61 billion in sales. Same-store sales in the U.S. rose 4.5%.

During the quarter, AutoZone opened 68 new stores, replaced five stores, and closed one store in the United States and opened 18 new stores in Mexico.

Houston -- Retail ATM owner Cardtronics said Tuesday that it has forged an ATM managed services agreement with Lakewood, Colo.-based FirstBank, covering the segment of its ATM network located in King Soopers grocery stores.

As part of the agreement, Cardtronics has implemented all hardware upgrades necessary to bring the King Soopers portion of the $11 billion-asset bank’s ATM network into compliance with revised “Americans with Disabilities Act regulations set to take effect in 2012.

Indianapolis -- Shopping center owner Simon Property Group said Tuesday that it has again been recognized by the Carbon Disclosure Project with inclusion in its Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index.