Corporate Governance

Chicago — Employment growth in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and the continuing recovery in the U.S. housing market have begun to affect all sectors of commercial real estate, according to Jones Lang LaSalle’s “Cross Sector Outlook.”

Total sector commercial real estate volumes in the first three quarters of 2013 have reached $208.82 billion, an increase of 30% over the same period in 2012, said the report.

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.

Dallas — The Retail Connection and Oakridge Investments have announced a partnership to build the Crossroads at Terrell, a regional power center at the intersection of I-20 and U.S. Highway 80 in Terrell, Texas. The 225,000-sq.-ft. Phase I of the development will break ground late next year.

Record downloads of its app and North American revenue growth have Groupon feeling good about mobile initiatives and its ongoing evolution from a provider of daily deals via email to a full bore e-commerce marketplace.

Five new members were named to the board of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association this week, an organization focused on the interests of social media marketers.

The Word of Mouth Marketing Association, or WOMMA, was founded in 2004 and the newest members of the group’s board include: Mark Bisard, vp and senior counsel of American Express; Christine Morrison, group Social media manager for Intuit; Kathy Baughman, president and co-founder of ComBlu; Patti Regan, president and CEO of The Regan Group and Emily Bader, EVP of strategic planning  Zocalo Group.

The Shop Your Way loyalty program Sears Holdings introduced in 2009 has been given interesting new social functionality with the introduction of Store Pages.

Welcome to the Web Rue21. The operator of nearly 1,000 stores nationwide has joined the ranks of virtually every other retailer and now sells products via the Internet.

The specialty apparel retailer focused on teens and young adults on Friday announced the launch of their online shopping site Rue21.com.

A new process for sustainable sourcing called Dockers Wellthread was unveiled by Levi Strauss & Co. which integrates product design, environmental practices and worker well-being.

Greg Saputo has spent a career in retail loss prevention and in the latest installment of the National Retail Federation’s video series, “This Is Retail,” he reflects on the first time he caught a shoplifter.

The five year old Green Works brand from Clorox is facing new competition on the natural products front following the launch of Walmart’s Great Value Naturals cleaning products.

Walmart said the introduction of Great Value Naturals furthers its commitment to making eco-friendly products more accessible and affordable and will be available in more than 2,000 stores and online.

Clorox introduced its Green Works brand in early 2008 and the line was prominently featured in Walmart promotional vehicles at the time.