Deals

Dallas -- Venture Commercial Real Estate said it has represented rue21 in lease negotiations for two new store locations that opened in November in Paris, Texas and Chickasha, Okla.

The Paris store is in a 7,162-sq.-ft. space in Paris Towne Center, and the Chickasha store is located in the Southland Shopping Center.
 

Oak Brook, Ill. -- Inland Western Retail Real Estate Trust has announced the acquisition of Alamo Ranch in a joint venture with RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust. The 469,031-sq.-ft. shopping center is located in San Antonio, Texas, and was purchased for approximately $92.2 million.

Garden City, N.Y. -- Sabre Real Estate Group said that Scott Sher has been named senior VP of the retail real estate brokerage firm.

Formerly director of real estate-northeastern region at Katz & Associates Corp., of Pearl River, Sher specializes in tenant and landlord representation in the New Jersey, Manhattan, Outer Boroughs, Westchester and Long Island markets.
 

Granada Hills, Calif. -- Jacksonville, Fla.-based Regency Centers said that it has leased 7,083 sq. ft. of retail space in Granada Hills, Calif., among three new tenants at Granada Village.

Carter’s leased 3,866 sq. ft., and hair salon Fantastic Sams leased 1,217 sq. ft.  Both are slated to open for business in March 2012. Opening in second quarter 2012, Freebirds World Burrito has leased 2,000 sq. ft. of restaurant space.

New York City -- The Feil Organization announced a lease has been signed with Morton Williams for a gourmet specialty food store at 140 West 57th Street in Manhattan.

Morton Williams will occupy three levels totaling 14,984 sq. ft. at the Landmark office building. The New York-based grocer operates 12 stores in New York City, Westchester and New Jersey. The 57th Street location will be the company's thirteenth store.

Chicago -- Illinois House leaders have agreed to pass tax breaks in order to keep Sears Holdings Corp. from abandoning its Hoffman Estates, Ill., headquarters in search of a new out-of-state home, according to Reuters.

The deal is also designed to keep Ill.-based securities and commodities trading company CME Group in-state as well.

The House had previously shot down the tax package. 

New York City -- By all reports, the ICSC New York deal-making conference, held Dec. 5 and 6 in New York City, delivered what the retail and shopping center industries were waiting for: A sense of forward progress.

Chain Store Age heard mostly positive comments from the show, such as “I haven’t seen this much deal action since 2006,” from one happy retail broker in the aisles of the New York Hilton meeting space. Mall developers unveiled redevelopment plans, and social media innovations and rollouts were the theme of the conference.

Anaheim, Calif. -- Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. reported Wednesday that losses widened in the third quarter to $17.6 million, from $7.1 million a year earlier. The decline was due in large part to charges associated with store closures.

Chicago -- Retail rents fell 1.6% year over year, and inched down 0.5% since the last quarter to the current national average of $14.65, according to Jones Lang LaSalle’s North America Year-end Retail Outlook. National retail vacancy levels posted a 0.1% quarter-over-quarter drop from 7.1% to 7.0%, with open-air centers at the high end with 10.9% vacancy, and general retail at the low end with 4.7%  vacancy.

New York City -- Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. is looking to raise as much as $792.3 million in an initial public offering that could value the company at $3.63 billion.

The luxury brand, which has 169 stores in North America and 34 in Europe and Japan, said in a regulatory filing that it is offering 41.7 million shares on behalf of existing shareholders for $17 to $19 each.