Mergers & Acquisitions

Less than a week after Office Depot and Officemax consummated their merger, the combined companies have a new chairman and CEO in former Delhaize America CEO Roland Smith.

In conjunction with the appointment of Smith, who also previously served as CEO of Wendy’s, the two CEOs of Office Depot and OfficeMax who were serving as co-CEOs of the combined company both resigned. Neil Austrian served as CEO of Office Depot and Ravi Saligram served as CEO of OfficeMax prior to the merger.

New York -- Sears Canada announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to sell its 50% joint venture interest in eight properties it owns to Montez Income Properties Corp. for approximately $300 million (C$315 million). Sears’ joint venture partner in the properties is The Westcliff Group of Companies.

The company said it will sell its interests in four regional shopping centers, two strip centers and two open-air retail centers.

Sears Canada announced that it has reached a definitive agreement with Montez Income Properties Corp. to sell its 50% joint venture interest in eight properties it owns with The Westcliff Group of Companies for approximately $315 million.  

West Orange, N.J. — Retro Fitness and Chipotle have signed long-term leases at West Orange Plaza in West Orange, N.J., according to Levin Management, which represented the landlord in the transaction.

Retro Fitness took 14,115 sq. ft. and was represented by Katz & Associates. Represented by Winick Realty Group, Chipotle leased 2,557 sq. ft.

A 32.4% increase in online sales was one of few bright spots in regional sporting goods retailer Sport Chalet’s second quarter.

During the period ended September 29, the Los Angeles-based chain said sales declined 5.2% to $86.7 due to a 2.5% same store sales decline, the closure of three underperforming stores and weakness in its team sales division due to changes in personnel. The negative factors were offset by strength in the online business and the opening of one new store. Sport Chalet ended the quarter with 52 stores.

Ashburn, Va. — One Loudoun Downtown, a joint venture of Miller and Smith and North America Sekisui House, has announced the opening of a 23,800-sq.-ft. The Fresh Market.

One Loudoun is a 358-acre master planned community in Loudoun County, Va., that includes 1,040 homes, 702,000 sq. ft. of retail, a luxury hotel and three million sq. ft. of office space.

The Fresh Market currently operates 144 stores in 26 states.

Dallas — CBRE Capital Markets arranged financing for the acquisition of a portfolio of 16 shopping centers totaling approximately 417,000 sq. ft. Located across the country, each of the 16 strip centers is adjacent to a Wal-Mart Supercenter shadow anchor. CBRE worked on behalf of the borrower, a partnership between Dallas-based Fountain Capital and Cheney & Mathes Properties, to obtain a 10-year, $41.6 million fixed-rate, non-recourse loan through the Goldman Sachs Mortgage Co.

Deerfield, Ill. – Walgreen Co. has completed its acquisition of certain assets of Kerr Drug’s retail drugstores and specialty pharmacy business. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.