Development/Redevelopment

Available space in strip centers dipped to 11% in the second quarter, the lowest rate for these neighborhood venues since 2008. The reason: omnichannel growth and format experimentation, according to CBRE, which tracked availability across 62 U.S. markets.  

Cushman & Wakefield’s senior director for Brooklyn Joseph Cirone is incredibly bullish on the borough in which he lives and works.    “If you are a tenant in Manhattan with a lease expiring any time in the next 36 months, you need to come and kick the tires in Brooklyn,” Cirone told attendees at a presentation of the company’s mid-year commercial real estate outlook for Manhattan.   

Dick’s Sporting Goods is building a new $100 million regional distribution center that will service more than 200 stores throughout the Northeast.   The 650,000-sq.-ft. facility will be located at Broome County Corporate Park in Conklin, New York. Construction will begin in August 2016 and is scheduled for completion in early 2018. Dick’s expects to create 466 full-time jobs at the center during the next five years.  

The Hershey Company is moving its popular store in Manhattan’s Times Square to a much larger location.   The company will unveil a new Hershey’s Chocolate World flagship at 20 Times Square in late 2017. The new store will be three times larger than the existing Hershey’s store, which has been a major tourist attraction since it opened in 2002. It will also feature even more bells and whistles, including a state-of-the-art digital billboard.  

Glen Valley Center’s taxable value had fallen to $776,221 since 2013, and the foreclosed, 35,775-sq.-ft. strip center in Caledonia, Michigan, had been the property of Wells Fargo Bank since 2007. So why did the bank walk away with $2.3 million for the center after a bidding war erupted among six buyers?   “We have a huge lack of product for investors to put their money in," explained Mark Ansara to mlive.com, which recently ran a report on the sale consummated at the end of June.  

Adhering to its company motto of “Quality Shopping Malls in Compelling Markets,” PREIT reached an agreement to sell the Washington Crown Center in Washington, Pennsylvania. At the same time, it announced it had put the Beaver Valley Mall up for sale.   In a press release, PREIT noted it had embarked on a portfolio optimization program focusing not just on new properties, but on new types of tenants that could fuel growth.  

Hello Kitty Cafe is pretty darn cute — and popular.    Located at the Irvine Spectrum Center in Irvine, California, the pop-up café opened on July 15, and draw such crowds that it had to temporarily close for a few hours. It’s housed within a pink shipping container that has been refurbished to feature a counter and dining patio area, complete with bistro tables and pink-and-white striped awnings. Bold character graphics adorn the exterior and interior container panels.  

Ross Stores remains among the nation’s most expansion-minded retailers.     The company  is opening a total of 24 Ross Dress for Less stores and seven dd's Discounts stores across 15 different states in June and July. The openings are part of the company's 2016 expansion plans, which call for the opening of approximately 70 Ross stores and 20 dd's Discounts locations throughout the year.   

Amazon.com Inc. cannot be accused of ignoring the fulfillment needs of customers in California.   The e-tail giant plans to open its 10th California fulfillment center in Sacramento. The new 855,000-plus-sq.-ft. facility, the fourth California fulfillment center Amazon has announced within a span of four months, will create more than 1,000 full-time hourly roles.  

The NFL Experience has become well known as a primary attraction of Super Bowl week in the big game’s host city. Now the attraction will go permanent in a joint venture with Cirque du Soleil at 20 Times Square, a mixed-use Witkoff development that will house the 39-story Edition Hotel.