Corporate Governance

Denver -- Brixmor Property Group announced it has added nine new small-shop leases at Villa Monaco, dramatically improving the center's occupancy, enhancing the neighborhood center's merchandising mix and strengthening its position in the Denver market.  

New York City -- Juice Generation, a juice bar concept with 12 locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn, signed a lease for its first Financial District location at 101 Maiden Lane, located at the corner of Pearl Street at the base of the luxury residential complex 2 Gold Street.  

Louisville, Ky. -- Mid-America Real Estate Corporation’s Investment Sales team recently brokered the sale of Stonefield Square in Louisville, Ky. The 90,991-sq.-ft. center was purchased from seller Viking Partners by Toronto-based Slate Properties for $12.6 million.   Stonefield Square is located at the southwest corner of Shelbyville and Moser Roads. The center is anchored by The Fresh Market, CVS and Fifth Third Bank.

Santa Clara, Calif. --The Irvine Company announced that Santa Clara’s first Whole Foods Market is coming to Santa Clara Square, a unique office campus and specialty retail center being built at Great America Parkway and the 101 freeway in the heart of Silicon Valley.

Richardson, Texas --Real estate development and investment firm KDC announced that Chef Kent Rathbun’s Jasper’s “Gourmet Backyard Cuisine” concept will join CityLine, the company’s 186-acre mixed-use project in Richardson, Texas. The restaurant is scheduled to open in summer 2015.

Boston -- Charter Realty & Development Corp. announced the acquisition of 60-70 Cross Street in Boston’s North End. The property is the latest addition to Charter’s growing commercial portfolio in Massachusetts and kick-starts its new urban program. Charter currently owns and operates over a million and a half square feet of commercial space in the Bay State.  

Walldorf, Germany -- Nearly one-third of consumers say "shared values" as a reason they are loyal to a brand. According to an SAP survey of 3,000 American consumers age 18 and older, while email was cited as the most popular way to communicate with companies, almost half of customers (48%) said they had problems with delayed or no responses to email More than half of those surveyed (54%) would like, or may like, an offer of help before they have to ask for it.

 

Downsized facilities management departments. Projects that reduce maintenance and operating costs. Store refreshes as opposed to costly remodels. Mandy Rennehan of Freshco Retail Maintenance spoke with Chain Store Age about how changes in retail facilities management are impacting retailers.

 

What trends are you seeing with regard to store retrofits and remodels?

 

The U.S. Department of Energy has named the ASHRAE/IES 90.1-2013 energy standard as the new national energy reference standard, superseding the 2010 version in effect until then.

Within two years, all states must put into effect a commercial building energy code at least as stringent as the 2013 version of 90.1, or justify why they cannot comply.

The updated standard pays particular attention to lighting controls, with more stringent requirements, including*:

 

A new specialty grocer — Fresh Thyme Farmers Market — has big plans for the Midwest. With industry veteran Chris Sherrell at the helm (and an investment interest from Meijer Inc.), the start-up emphasizes natural and organic foods and produce, much of it locally sourced, at value prices in a convenient neighborhood-store format.