Development/Redevelopment

Plano, Texas – Rent-A-Center has opened its newest locations in Panorama City, Calif., and Corinth, Miss. Rent-A-Center operates 162 stores in California and 37 stores in Mississippi.

The retailer also operates more than 3,000 stores in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Canada and Mexico. It employs more than 21,000 workers.

The Home Depot has opened a new direct fulfillment center (DFC) in the Locust Grove suburb of Atlanta.

It is the first of three new DFCs the company will open across the U.S. in the next two years, adding more than 3 million sq. ft. and approximately 1,000 jobs to its supply chain. The new distribution centers will increase the number of orders the company can ship the day they are received, increasing the speed of delivery for HomeDepot.com orders.

Milwaukee -- Roundy’s, Inc. has set the pricing of an underwritten public offering of about 8.8 million shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $7 per share. The company is offering 2.9 million shares of its common stock, and certain selling stockholders are offering 5.9 million shares of Roundy’s common stock.

New York — Lao Feng Xiang Jewelry has signed a long-term lease for its first North American retail store and showroom at 585 Fifth Avenue in New York City. Slated to open in the fall of 2014, the 6,100-sq.-ft. flagship store will feature three floors plus a basement. The jeweler has more than 2,300 sales outlets around the world.

Winick Realty Group represented the owner, TSW 33 Realty Corp. in the transaction, achieving a record rent that edged close to the record asking price of $2.25 million per year. CBRE represented Lao Feng Xiang.

Nashville, Tenn. — GBT Realty has announced that Firehouse Subs, Aspen Dental, Bama Fever Tiger Pride, Smashburger and Edible Arrangements will be coming to Cobbs Ford Village, a new in-line shopping center in Prattville, Ala.

Starbuck’s and Gigi’s Cupcakes have already opened at the shopping center, and Chipotle will open in mid February. Two 1,600-sq.-ft. places remain available.

Portland, Ore. — Cypress Equities, the management company for Lloyd Center in Portland, Ore., has announced that the Center’s owners intend to purchase the 130,000-sq.-ft. building currently owned and occupied by Nordstrom. The acquisition is part of the center’s recently announced renovation plans.

Plans call for the building to change hands in January of 2015. Nordstrom has notified its employees that the store will close.

Virginia Beach, Va. — Ingenuity Development has entered into a strategic alliance with a New York Stock Exchange-traded Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) to combine forces on joint venture opportunities for retail and mixed-use projects in the Mid-Atlantic and the Southeast. Ingenuity will also see opportunities to work with its affiliate, Divaris Real Estate, to lease and manage completed projects.

The San Jose Mercury News is reporting that Walmart has expanded and already sizable footprint in the San Francisco bay area.
Walmart opened a new office in Sunnyvale, about 30 miles south of its Global eCommerce and @Walmart Labs headquarter in San Bruno, that employs 500 people, according to the San Jose Mercury News. Details are still a bit sketchy, but click here for more from Walmart.com’s hometown newspaper visit.
 

Seattle — Nordstrom has announced plans to open a Nordstrom Rack at Mercer Mall near Princeton, N.J. Plans call for the approximately 35,000-sq.-ft. store to open in the spring of 2015.

Mercer Mall is owned and managed by Federal Realty Investment Trust www.federalrealty.com. The new store will add to the current tenant line up, which includes T.J.Maxx, Bed Bath & Beyond, DSW and Shop Rite.