Finance & Capital Management

Luxury Brand Holdings, parent company of Ross-Simons and Sidney Thomas, has appointed James M. Speltz as president.    Speltz will join the company’s board and oversee all business activities. Most recently, he was COO for Teikametrics, a software and service provider to Amazon.com third-party merchants.  

Following its success in renovating another center in the Florida town of Jupiter, Elion Partners had embarked on a renovation of Jupiter Reserve, which will be re-christened as Pennock Square.   Plans for the 43,172-sq.-ft. center include a cosmetic makeover to a more contemporary look, new signage, and parking and landscaping upgrades.    Elion’s re-do of the nearby Fresh Market Village inspired the effort.  

An historic department store building that closed its doors and has been empty for 30 years — long enough for a tree to start growing inside it — has been given a brand new lease on life.  

Burlington Stores is promoting three key executives, with the appointments all effective January 30, 2017.   The appointments include the following:    • Jennifer Vecchio, executive VP/chief merchandising officer since May 2015, will be promoted to the newly created role of chief merchandising officer/principal, and will assume responsibility for the merchandise planning, allocation and MIO functions.  

DDR has purchased a new Chicago center anchored by a Mariano’s supermarket for $81 million. The 137,618-sq.-ft. property is located on 3030 North Broadway in the Lakeview section of town.   XSport Fitness, PNC Bank, and Starbucks are tenants in the center along with Mariano’s, a chain Chicagoland founded by former Dominick’s deli worker Bob Mariano, who grew it to nearly 48 stores. The chain is now owned by Kroger.  

Pep Boys has added 130 stores to its portfolio.   The company has purchased Just Brakes, a privately held an automotive repair and maintenance chain, increasing the number of Pep Boys auto service locations to over 900 locations.  

On pace to double its online business for fiscal 2016, apparel retailer J. Lindeberg is ready to take control of its e-commerce destiny.    The company, known for its men's and women's fashion and golf apparel and accessories, recently launched in Canada, and now has its sights set on digital expansion into North and South America. At the core of this expansion is bringing its operating platform in-house.  

The Kroger Co. is hiring to fill an estimated 10,000 permanent positions in its supermarket divisions.   The company also announced that its total active workforce grew by more than 12,000 associates in 2016. Over the last eight years, Kroger has created more than 86,000 permanent, new jobs. (The total does not include jobs created as a result of capital investment, such as temporary construction jobs, nor do they include increases due to the company's mergers. Kroger and its subsidiaries today employ more than 443,000 associates.