Development/Redevelopment

San Antonio’s zoning commission voted has approved a $300 million makeover of the city’s shuttered Lone Star Brewery. Three previous attempts to redevelop the 32-acre site dating back to 1996 never materialized.   The co-project of CBL and Aqualand Development will be a mixed-use property combining retail, hotel, residential, and office space. Cinemark Theaters and Punch Bowl Social — a dining and gaming center with locations in Denver, Austin, and Cleveland — have signed on as the first tenants.  

Dollar General is planning to unveil a smaller-store concept designed around convenience.   The new format, reportedly to be called DGX,  is due to open in early 2017, with a unit in downtown Nashville, and another in Raleigh, North Carolina.       

Bed Bath & Beyond is going local in Brooklyn, New York.   The home décor chain’s upcoming store in the Sunset Park section of Brooklyn will include a cafe that will feature local items, brooklynpaper.com reported, along with a coffee bar. The 120,000-sq.-ft. store will also offer cooking classes.     Other features will include a “Born in Brooklyn” department spotlighting items made in the borough as a means of supporting local manufacturers, according to the report.

Dollar General is working out details to construct a $91 million distribution center in Orange County, New York.   The chain is eyeing the creation of a 750,000-square-foot distribution hub on a 100-acre site in the town of Florida, N.Y., the Albany Business Review reported.      The building would supply merchandise to 1,000 stores in the Northeast, and could bring more than 500 jobs to the Albany, N.Y., region over the next five years, according to the report.   

Toys “R” Us is looking to shake up its store experience.   The retailer has opened a new “experience-driven” prototype in Santa Ana, California, near South Coast Plaza, The Orange County Register reported.      

Watch out Hallmark. A popular British greeting card  and stationery brand has designs on the U.S. market.   Paperchase is planning to open two freestanding stores in the United States next year, both in Chicago, The Telegraph reported.         Currently, the brand supplies Target and Staples with private-label greeting cards.      

L.L. Bean has opened its first store in Cincinnati, at The Kenwood Collection mixed-use center.   The 15,000-sq.-ft. store includes an outpost of the Freeport, Maine-based retailer’s Outdoor Discovery School, which offer demonstrations, clinics and introductory hands-on activities like snowshoeing, kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding, archery and fly casting.  

The Woodmont Company has hired Pendleton Mills real estate executive John Geddis to handle leasing at the firm’s growing outlet center portfolio. His title will be senior VP of brokerage services.   Geddis gained extensive experience on both the owner and tenant sides of the business in a 20-year career, with stints at Simon Property Group and General Growth Properties, as well as Samsonite. At Pendeton, he oversaw development for the company’s 50 owned retail and outlet locations.  

Grocery retailer Winn-Dixie opened the second ever location of its next-generation store concept, in the Hyde Park section of Tampa, Florida.  

Saks Fifth Avenue has opened its third location in Miami, and seventh location year to date, at the just opened Brickell City Centre in the city’s financial district.