Mergers & Acquisitions

Cincinnati -- Phillips Edison Grocery Center REIT II and TPG Real Estate announced the formation of a partnership to acquire high-quality, value-added grocery-anchored shopping centers throughout the United States. The Partnership will invest up to $250 million of equity and plans to leverage this capital to achieve a $750 million acquisition target.

Dollar General will break its own record for store expansion in 2017. And that’s saying a lot.

The discounter is already in high gear, with plans to open a record 900 stores and remodel or relocate about 875 existing locations in 2016. But it’s upping the total for 2017, forecasting some 1,000 new stores and 900 remodels or relocations, which is in line with its model of 6% to 8% square footage growth.

Francesca’s says its fourth quarter financial results show that the retailer's growth initiatives are bearing fruit, as the company posted a big jump in same store sales over the holidays.

For the fourth quarter ended Jan. 30, same store sales at Francesca's increased 11%. Net sales increased 25% to $134.6 million from $107.6 million in the prior year quarter. Net income totaled $14.7 million, compared to $6 million in the comparable prior year period. 

Fred’s on Wednesday reported its Q4 and FY2015 earnings, as well as the news that board chairman Michael Hayes would be stepping down, to be replaced with longtime director Thomas Tashjian.

Market expansion into the Minneapolis market may be the next step for Meijer, The Grand Rapids Press reported last week, confirming that the grocer acquired 30 acres of land in a Twin City suburb. "I can confirm Meijer has purchased property in Brooklyn Park, Minn.," Frank Guglielmi, Meijer senior director communications, told The Grand Rapids Press.

Tacoma, Wash. -- Vestar announced that it has acquired James Center located in Tacoma, Washington, for $31.4 million.

The 140,240 sq. ft. center is located directly across from Tacoma Community College, which enrolls nearly 14,000 students per year. James Center is anchored by Fred Meyer and Rite, as well as feature tenants: Starbucks, Subway, Verizon, Menchie’s, U.S. Bank, IHOP, FedEx Kinko’s and Ivar’s.

Starbucks knows a thing or two about developing business across channels, and on-demand, app-based grocery delivery service Shipt is bringing that expertise in-house.

Birmingham, Alabama-based Shipt has named Joe Manning, former Starbucks director of business and channel development, to lead business development. Shipt is looking to Manning to establish and grow partnerships with grocers and CPG companies as the company expands.

Companies of all sizes, and increasingly retailers, are implementing integrated portfolio management solutions to make smarter real estate decisions and solve their business challenges.

To better support retailers with their real estate portfolios, JLL announced that it has welcomed back Geno Coradini to the firm as executive VP, retail integrated portfolio services lead. He will be responsible for working with our retail tenant representative brokers nationally to support JLL’s retailer client base.

Photo: Arthur Valdez