Development/Redevelopment

The remaking of Retail Properties of America is right on track, according to a financial review provided by the Oak Brook, Illinois company.   RPAI reported that it has completed $414.8 million worth of dispositions in the year to date, of which $367.2 million were non-target, multi-tenant retail assets.   In executing its strategic plan to focus on high-performing markets and properties, RPAI has exited multi-tenant retail operations in Alabama, Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Ohio.

The fourth floor of the Mall of America, which has long been a center of night-time activity at the Bloomington, Minnesota, institution, continues to undergo an overhaul.  

Cushman & Wakefield has tapped Dominic Delgado as senior director of its retail brokerage for Palm Beach and Broward County, Florida.   Delgado moves over to Cushman from LDR Partners, a Florida firm that focused on acquisition of low-performing retail, office, and hospitality real estate during the recession. As executive VP there, Delgado represented a mix of national and regional developers and REITs.  

PetSmart was busy opening stores during its first quarter.   The retailer opened 18 new stores in the U.S. and Canada in its fiscal quarter ending May 1, 2017. PetSmart opened 70 net new stores in 2016 and expects to open more than this number in fiscal year 2017.     

Two Hispanic supermarket chains are merging with an eye to extending their footprint beyond their home base.    Private equity firm KKR announced it is combining Cardenas Markets and Mi Pueblo, which KKR (and Victory Park Capital) acquired at the end of last year. The combined business will operate as Cardenas Markets LLC and will become one of the largest Hispanic supermarket chains in the country.   

Organic Garage has opened an urban-inspired flagship that takes its design cues from the industrial surroundings and city streetscapes of its locale. Located in Toronto’s west-end Junction neighborhood, the 15,000-sq.-ft. grocery store incorporates murals and graffiti, street signs, pavement markings, guardrails, street lights, and building signs. To add to the authenticity, a local graffiti artist painted over brick walls giving a vibrant and urban feel to the space.  

Sears Holdings continues to shrink its traditional store portfolio even as it plans to open more smaller, specialty stores.   The embattled retailer on Friday announced that it will close 43 more locations -- eight Sears stores and 35 Kmart locations -- by early October. This is on top of the 265 store closings that it has already announced for this year.   

Nordstrom will be erecting its second off-price Nordstrom Rack store in Milwaukee. The Seattle-based retailer has announced plans for a 26,800-sq.-ft. location at the Bayshore Town Center in the city’s North Shore.   The Nordstrom Rack will be erected on the site of a vacated Sears at the Olshan Properties center, where a Total Wine & More store is also slated to take up some of the space.