Development/Redevelopment

New York -- MPI — Mall Properties, Inc., a private owner, developer and operator of commercial real estate — has changed its name to Olshan Properties.

Los Angeles — The retail availability rate fell 70 basis points in 2013, reaching 12% and reflecting continued net absorption gains, according to a report from CBRE. The rate fell 30 basis points in the fourth quarter, which matches the momentum of the first half of 2013 after a flat third quarter.

New York -- Uniqlo will continue its expansion in the United States by opening five stores this spring/summer, including its first-ever location in the greater Philadelphia metropolitan area.
 
The five new Uniqlo stores scheduled to open in spring/summer are:

An 18,000-sq.-ft. Hofbrauhaus restaurant has broken ground at Grandview Yard in Grandview Heights, Ohio, according to Nationwide Realty Investors, the developer of the $500 million mixed-use project. Hofbrauhaus Columbus will resemble the legendary 420-year-old Hofbrauhaus in Munich, Germany. The restaurant will include a large bier hall for live entertainment, an old world German-style dining room and an outdoor bier garden.

Rockville, Md. — Federal Realty Investment Trust has acquired controlling interests in two shopping centers in Affluent Monmouth County, N.J., for $161 million. Both the Grove at Shrewsbury and Brook 35 are located on Route 35 and serve the emerging bedroom and second home communities of Shrewsbury, Red Bank, Rumson, Fair Haven, Little Silver, and Middletown. The acquisition was made with a combination of downREIT units, cash and the assumption of $68 million of fixed rate debt secured by the properties.

While we wait for all of the official numbers to come in from the 2013 holiday shopping season — a topic I’ll address in a future column — I thought this might be a good time to expand on one of the points I made about retail downsizing in my 2014 forecast piece.

Seattle -- Nordstrom announced today plans to open a Nordstrom Rack at The Shops at SkyView Center in Queens, N.Y., and another at Lake Brandson Plaza, Brandon, Fla. Both stores are scheduled to open in fall 2014.

Nordstrom Rack is set to open its first Brooklyn, N.Y., location on Fulton Street in spring 2014 followed by a second location at the Gateway Center in Brooklyn, in the fall. When it opens, The Shops at SkyView Center Nordstrom Rack will be the company's first Queens location.

Minneapolis -- The Tile Shop, a specialty retailer of high quality, premium manufactured and natural stone tiles, has opened its first retail locations in Connecticut, 15,120-sq.-ft. location in Brookfield, and a 20,740-sq.-ft. location in Norwalk.