Development/Redevelopment

Grocery is one of the fastest-growing segments of retail — just not in Chicago.   Over the past two years, 25 supermarket shut their doors in Chicagoland. Sixteen new ones opened, but they were smaller than the ones that closed, making for what Mid-America Real Estate calls an “alarming” loss of 544,512 sq. ft. of inventory.  

Irvine Retail Properties’ flagship shopping destination, The Irvine Spectrum Center, has demolished the 140,000-sq.-ft. Macy’s that opened there in 2002 and is erecting a new building in its place to accommodate up to 20 shops, according to a report in the Orange County Register.  

As 20th Century malls give way to 21st Century mixed use centers, retail tenants need to arm themselves against giving away too much away during lease negotiations.   That’s the caution of National Retail Tenants Association director Paul Kinney, who strongly advises retailers to consider both long and the short-term implications of the leases they sign.  

Online made-to-measure retailer Indochino expands its brick-and-mortar footprint with its largest location to date, a 4,100-sq.-ft. space at King of Prussia mall, King of Prussia, Pa.   The new outpost caps off a busy summer for the Canadian retailer, during which it also opened a second location in New York City, and flagships in Chicago and Washington, D.C. Earlier this year, the company opened two storefronts in Canada, in Edmonton and Vancouver. It currently has a total of 17 stores in North America.    

It was 25 years ago today the Ghermezian family taught American shoppers to play.   The Ghermezians and their Triple Five development company had already set a new standard for enclosed shopping centers with their West Edmonton Mall. But on August 11, 1992, on the former site of Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota, they and managing agent Simon created a whole new ball game.  

Ground has been broken on Kimco’s 102-acre Dania Pointe project in the Dania Beach section of Fort Lauderdale.   Phase one of the mixed-use development will include 300,000 sq. ft. of retail, 80% of which is already leased, according to the company. Along with the requisite food and beverage establishments, TJ Maxx, Hobby Lobby, BrandsMart, and Ulta Beauty have signed on as tenants.  

The Ivanka Trump brand is making its second foray into freestanding retail.   The company will open a location in Trump Tower on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue this fall, giving the tourists who visit the site a chance to buy Ivanka Trump-branded merchandise, Bloomberg reported.    The brand previously had a jewelry shop in Manhattan, which closed in 2015. It also shuttered its only other location, a luxury shop in Beijing.  

A premium outerwear best known for its signature goose-down jacket with fur-trimmed hood is expanding its fledgling store footprint.    Canada Goose Holdings Inc. announced plans to open three additional retail stores this fall, with locations in Boston, Calgary (Canada), and Tokyo, Japan. Also opening this fall are two previously announced stores in Chicago and London.