Marketing

Doing deals with real estate development and services firm CASTO just got easier thanks to the roll out of a new Web-based software platform called LeasePilot.

LeasePilot was developed by Gadfly Legal Technologies to streamline the lease documentation process and helps owners manage valuable lease information. CASTO is currently using LeasePilot to create the first drafts of leases.

Chico’s FAS is nominating two new independent board members as two current members prepare to retire and an investor says it will nominate its own two candidates.
 

Each year, Chain Store Age compiles a ranking of the fastest growing property managers based on the square footage added. See who topped this year’s list.
 
The 27th annual survey of Fastest-Growing Managers tallies new domestic and international third-party management and leasing contracts obtained during the 2015 calendar year and ranks the top performers. As always, the measuring stick is square footage. This year’s fastest-growing third-party managers are taking many roads to growth, from acquisition to a multidisciplinary focus.

Members of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) elected Elizabeth Holland as chairman, marking only the fourth time in the past 59 years a woman has chaired the organization.

Holland brings a unique skill set to the role given ICSC’s top legislative priority and the upcoming presidential election. The period following the inauguration of a new president is always a critical time in Washington, heralding what is traditionally the most active time in the legislative cycle, according to ICSC.

Best Buy Co. Inc. surpassed Wall Street expectations with rising profits and declining revenues for the first quarter of fiscal 2017, and CFO/CAO Sharon McCollam announced she will retire June 14.
 

Amazon.com has been encroaching on Barnes & Noble Education’s collegiate bookstore business with a rapidly expanding network of campus pickup locations, but Barnes & Noble is striking back.
 
Fourteen colleges and universities have selected Barnes & Noble College as their partner of choice to operate their campus bookstores. The 14 new contracts represent 23 new campus and virtual bookstores. The schools represent a projected additional 140,000 students and their faculty.
 

The nation’s leading auto parts retailer produced modest sales and profit growth during its third quarter but managed to achieve double digit earnings per share growth thanks to stock buyback activity.

AutoZone sales increased 4% to $2.6 billion during the quarter ended May 7, thanks to the addition of new stores and a 2% same-store sales increase. Net income increased 6% to $327.5 million, while earning per share increased 12.6% to $10.77 as the company spent $533 million to repurchase 687,000 shares.

In Dublin, Ohio, an ambitious new development is taking shape – a project with the potential to literally and figuratively remake the city’s development landscape. The project is Bridge Park, a $350 million mixed-use development that is the central component of a larger 1,100-acre Bridge Street District development plan. The project is the first step in a comprehensive master-planned vision that was formally approved by Dublin’s City Council in 2010.