Corporate Governance

Mount Vernon, Ill. — Sansone Group and Pine Tree Commercial Realty LLC have signed a lease extension with Subway restaurant at Times Square Mall in Mount Vernon, Ill. As part of the extension, Subway will expand its restaurant by approximately 500 sq. ft.

Sansone Group (www.sansonegroup.com) and Pine Tree (www.pinetreecommercial.com) own the 269,328-sq.-ft. center in partnership with the Wanxiang America Real Estate Group.

Beverly Hills, Calif. — Quantum Capital Partners, a real estate finance and advisory firm, has arranged two new loans to refinance two retail properties in Las Vegas for a private investor.

A $1.04 million loan will refinance the 12,000-sq.-ft. El Mercado, an L-shaped retail center in east Las Vegas, and a $1.19 million loan will refinance Wigwam, a 10,300-sq.-ft. strip center about four miles south of the Las Vegas Strip.

San Francisco – Twitter began trading shares on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Nov. 7 after reportedly raising $1.82 billion in its IPO. According to Bloomberg, Twitter sold 70 million shares at $26 each in its IPO, giving it a $14.2 billion market capitalization that is 12.4 times estimated 2014 sales of $1.14 billion.

Twitter will trade on NYSE under the TWTR symbol. The company’s revenue reached $534.5 million in the 12 months that ended Sept. 30, 2013.

Dallas -- The Container Store Group, Inc. has completed its IPO of 14.375 million shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $18 per share, including 1.875 million shares sold in connection with the full exercise of the option to purchase additional shares granted to the underwriters.

Bentonville, Ark. – A glitch on the U.S. website of Wal-Mart reportedly provided consumers with enormous discounts for a short time on the morning of Nov. 6. According to Reuters, treadmills that normally cost hundreds of dollars were selling for $33.16 and widescreen computer monitors were selling for $9.

Wal-Mart has not said how many discounted items were sold before the glitch was discovered. The retailer has also said it will not honor any sales resulting from the glitch, but will give those consumers a $10 gift card.

Foothill Ranch, Calif. – The Wet Seal reported net sales of $127.7 million during the third quarter of fiscal 2013, down 5.8% from the same quarter in the prior year. In a partial release of third quarter figures, the company also reported a 0.8% increase in same-store sales.

Conshocken, Pa. – Ikea plans to nearly double the solar array completed in April atop its Perryville, Md., distribution center, the state’s largest such solar energy system. Installation of the new panels will begin in November with completion expected in 2014.

City of Commerce, Calif. – 99 Cents Only Stores is opening a new store in Ladera Heights, Calif., on Nov. 14. The new store is approximately 19,000 sq. ft. and will feature a perishable food department, including produce, dairy and frozen foods.

99 Cents Only Stores currently operates 334 extreme value retail stores consisting of 240 stores in California, 44 in Texas, 33 in Arizona, and 17 in Nevada.

Englewood, Colo. -- Blockbuster L.L.C., will end its retail and by mail DVD distribution operations by early January 2014. The company will close its approximately 300 remaining U.S.-based retail stores, as well as its distribution centers.

Plano, Texas – J.C. Penney says it is making continued progress in its turnaround after reporting some strong financial results for October 2013. Preliminary results indicate that compared to the same month in the prior year, same-store sales increased 0.9%, online sales grew 37.6%, and conversion continued to improve, which Penney says reflects favorable customer response to promotional events and improved inventory levels.