Development/Redevelopment

Chicago -- Englewood Construction has finished a 55,000-sq.-ft. ground-up Hobby Lobby store on an outlet pad at Seabrook Crossings, a new retail development in Seabrook, N.H.   

In Franklin, Tenn., Englewood recently completed an American Girl store, located in the CoolSprings Galleria mall just outside of Nashville. The store is the 12th Englewood has completed for American Girl. The architect for the project was Morristown, N.J.-based Jacobs Engineering Group Inc.
 
 

Charlotte, N.C. – Family-owned Belk Inc., which hired Goldman Sachs in April to explore “strategic alternatives,” may have landed on a high-end shopping list. According to Reuters, New York-based equity firm Sycamore Partners may be considering bidding $3 billion to $3.5 billion for Belk.

Belk operates about 300 stores and averages about $4 billion in annual sales. In the first quarter of fiscal 2015, Belk reported earnings of $21.8 million and sales of $958 million, both of which were year-over-year improvements.

Chicago -- Marbles: The Brain Store is in an expansion mode.

The retailer has opened a new store in Washington D.C., at National Harbor, the waterfront shopping and entertainment district on the Potomac River. It is Marbles’ second location in the Washington, D.C., area and its third to open this summer, with new stores debuting in Times Square in New York City and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, marking its first location in the southern region.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. – Sears Holding Corp. has met financial expectations for its new real estate investment trust (REIT) called Seritage Growth Properties. A 53.3 million-share Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) subscription rights offering for Seritage that closed on July 2 was oversubscribed and generated about $1.6 billion, meeting expectations for gross proceeds of $1.57 billion.

London - McArthurGlen Group, an owner, developer and manager of European designer outlets, is opening its first North American location on July 9, in Vancouver. McArthurGlen Vancouver Airport is designed in an open-air village style, with a luxury piazza and tree-lined streets.

On opening, the center will offer 240,000-sq.-ft. of retail space with 50 new stores, featuring Armani, Coach, J Crew, Hugo Boss, Ports 1961, Tommy Hilfiger and Polo Ralph Lauren, with more brands to come before the end of 2015.

Specialty home goods retailer Conn’s continues to expand outward from its home state of Texas with several recent openings in key markets pushing the company toward its ambitious 2015 growth plan.

Conn’s currently operates 90 stores and earlier this year announced plans for between 15 and 18 new stores. Over the July 4 weekend the company added two store in North Carolina, a 46,000-sq.-ft. store in Charlotte and a slightly smaller 43,000-sq.-ft. store in Gastonia.

Los Angeles -- American Apparel on Monday announced it would close some stores as part of a $30 million cost-cutting initiative in its strategic turnaround plan. (American Apparel CEO Paula Schneider discussed the plan with CSA in a recent interview.) The embattled company also made two other revealing disclosures.

St. Petersburg, Fla. - The Sembler Co. recently broke ground on the 65,000-sq-ft Shoppes at Trinity Lakes, a Publix-anchored shopping center located in Trinity, Florida. In addition to the 45,600-sq-ft Publix and 1,400-sq-ft Publix Liquor Store, Sembler has signed leases with nearly 11,000 sq. ft. of retailers new to the Trinity market.