Development/Redevelopment

Kimco Realty has sold the Ambassador Plaza neighborhood center in Lafayette, Louisiana, to Westwood AC Properties for $5.3 million.   According to Transwestern VP Fred Victor, who brokered the deal for Kimco, the property benefits greatly from being shadow-anchored by an Albertson’s grocery store. Ambassador Plaza boasts a wide variety of dining options, including Subway, Little Caesars, and Fruiti Smoothie.  

Phillips Edison has acquired another grocery-anchored center, this on in Bakersfield, California.   Riverlakes Village is a 92,212-sq.-ft. neighborhood center anchored by Von’s Supermarket and augmented by a classic necessity-based mix of CVS, Verizon Wireless, Bank of America, Supercuts, Steak and Grape’s, and Chipotle.    The center is 97% leased, according to broker CBRE, which did not disclose the sale price.  

West Elm is expanding its hotel portfolio — even before it opens its first location.   The retailer, a division of Williams-Sonoma, announced Portland, Maine as the newest location for its West Elm Hotels collection. Expected to open in 2020, the 150 room, full-service boutique hotel  will be developed on Portland’s waterfront by Portland Foreside Development Company LLC, and operated by hotel development and management company DDK, which is West Elm Hotels’ exclusive operator.  

The Plaza at Harmon Meadow in Secaucus, New Jersey, has a new managing agent charged with revitalizing the 192,000-sq.-ft. property.   Levin Management Corporation has taken over day-to-day operations at the center, which is located in a busy entertainment, transportation, and business corridor in the New Jersey Meadowlands. It is directly accessible off the New Jersey Turnpike and Route 3 and minutes from routes 17 and 46, I-80, the George Washington Bridge, and the Lincoln Tunnel.  

Formed just three years ago, an aggressive acquirers of grocery-anchored centers has purchased its 34th property.   New Market Properties, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Preferred Apartment Communities, has acquired Irmo Station, a Kroger-anchored center in Columbia, South Carolina. The company targets high-yield suburban markets in Texas and the mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions and market-leading grocery anchors such as Publix, Kroger, and HEB.  

The willow is associated with weeping, and the appearance of WillowTree Plaza in Cookeville, Tennessee, is certainly sad by modern standards. But now the center near Tennessee Tech University has a new owner and, soon, will get a new look.   Boca Raton-based Fimiani Partners has purchased the 110,000-sq.-ft. center for $4.2 million and plans to invest in a new roof, a repaved parking lot, and a new paint job for Willow Tree.  

Not all department store retailers are closing stores.   Charlotte, North Carolina-based Belk said it plans to open three new stores, part of a nearly $40 million investment in store remodels, capital improvements and new store openings in 2017.  

Macy's and Sears are by no means the only department store companies with valuable real estate.    Activist investor Snow Capital Partners has built a position in Dillard's Inc. and is planning to push for changes at the retailer, including unlocking the value of its real estate portfolio, Bloomberg reported.