Development/Redevelopment

Canton, Mass. - Dunkin' Donuts has signed a multi-unit store development agreement with new franchisees, Brian and Sharon Weidendorf, to develop seven restaurants in Duluth, Minnesota, and the surrounding areas. The first restaurant is planned to open in spring 2015.

Savannah, Ga. - Bill Bishop has been named VP of real estate and development of convenience store chain Parker’s, a new position for the company. He will work with president and CEO Greg Parker on the company’s strategic real estate negotiations and acquisitions, citing research and permitting coordination with local officials.

Los Angeles -- Guitar Center will open a flagship in Manhattan’s Times Square on Aug. 7.

The store is located in the original New York Times building. Designed by Eight Inc., the space will offer a high-energy, hands-on environment in which customers are encouraged to interact with the wide selection of instruments and staff.  

Bentonville, Ark. -- Sam’s Club has purchased an approximately 13-acre parcel to build its new store at Village at the Peaks in Longmont, Colorado. Sam’s Club plans to build a new 136,000-sq.-ft. store to anchor the northernmost location in the project.

The 480,000-sq.-ft. Village at the Peaks is being developed by NewMark Merrill Mountain States and is scheduled to open in late 2015. Other key anchors Whole Foods, Gold’s Gym and a state-of-the-art Regal Cinema.

High-end department store Von Maur plans to open its 30th location on October 18 in Oklahoma City. The new location will be the company’s first in the state and will be part of the city’s Quail Springs Mall.

The new store will open in a space that used to house a Sears, and will undergo a complete facelift. Von Maur will create a brick façade on the exterior and sell brands like Brooks Brothers, Hugo Boss and Coach.

Target opened its experimental Express format on July 23 in a community near downtown Minneapolis designed to give the retailer an early indication of expansion potential for the 20,000-sq.-ft. concept.
 
The store is the smallest Target has ever opened and is located in an area known as Dinkytown near the campus of the University of Minnesota. Four additional locations are already planned for next year including three in the San Francisco area and one in St. Paul.
 

Davenport, Iowa -- Von Maur Department Stores will open its 30th store, at Quail Springs Mall in northern Oklahoma City, on Oct. 18. The split-level, 150,000-sq.-ft. store will be the company's first location in Oklahoma.

Located at the mall's former Sears location, the store will undergo a complete remodel in order to feature Von Maur's signature exterior brick facade, which includes arching entryways accented by copper cupolas.

Bentonville, Ark. – Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has lost its bid to keep files regarding an internal probe of possible bribes paid to Mexican officials to aid real estate deals out of the hands of investors. The Delaware Supreme Court has upheld a 2013 ruling by a lower Delaware state court mandating that Wal-Mart provide the files to several investors.

Midvale, Utah – Sportsman’s Warehouse Inc. is opening a store in Spokane, Washington, in early 2015. This location will be the first of eight planned stores that will open during 2015, making a total of 63 retail stores open and operating by the end of 2015.

Seattle – Starbucks is opening three new stores in Hanoi, Vietnam. The stores will add to Starbucks’ established Vietnam presence of eight stores in Ho Chi Minh City.

Starbucks opened the first of the three stores on July 23. All three will be located near shopping malls or office buildings. Starbucks is not publicly saying how many stores in Vietnam it ultimately plans to open. The company first entered the Vietnamese market in 2013.