Development/Redevelopment

Seattle -- Nordstrom Inc. said Tuesday that it has opened a second Cleveland Nordstrom Rack store – at the Promenade in Crocker Park, owned and managed by Stark Enterprises.

The 34,000-sq.-ft. store is slated to open fall 2013 in a former Border’s space at the lifestyle shopping center located in Westlake, Ohio, and tenanted by Bed Bath & Beyond, H&M, Trader Joe’s, Victoria’s Secret and The Cheesecake Factory.

I’m sure I wasn’t the only person in the industry to raise an eyebrow when the S&P Retail Index notched an all-time high last month. Closing at $669.26 on September 14th to reach that milestone, the index has continued to creep up even further the last couple of weeks. A closer look at the stock market performance of the retail sector shows that both REITs and many individual retailers are continuing a strong positive trend—which makes sense, of course, because REITs will perform better in a strong retail environment when retailers are doing well.

Commerce, Calif. -- Discounter 99 Cents Only said Tuesday it has launched an official search for a retail property on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, Calif., to open its first store on the iconic street.

"We are confident a Rodeo Drive store will be successful because our stores do well in affluent areas,” said Eric Schiffer, CEO. “In fact, our highest sales volume store is located only a few blocks from Beverly Hills on Wilshire Boulevard.”

Of its 303 extreme-value stores in the U.S., 222 are in California.

San Antonio, Texas -- Steak n Shake said Tuesday it has signed its first international development agreement, which will bring the concept to the Middle East.

Steak n Shake has signed an exclusive area development agreement with the Saleh Bin Lahej Group to open 40 restaurants throughout the United Arab Emirates. This agreement represents the initial expansion of the brand outside the continental United States.

New York -- Hennes & Mauritz AB has cut a deal to open in Manhattan’s Times Square, the New York Post reported.

According to the report, H&M will move into the three-floor, 42,510-sq.-ft. space at 4 Times Square that was previously occupied by the restaurant ESPN Zone. The space, which has been vacant for some two years, includes two huge billboards that wrap above the store’s facade along Broadway and West 42nd Street.

Family Dollar – like Dollar General – is opening stores as fast as it can and this week said it would add 500 new units ahead of what is expected to be an announcement by Walmart next week to accelerate growth of its own small format.

Toronto -- Ann Taylor announced it opened its first international store on Oct. 4, in the Toronto Eaton Centre, Toronto.

A second international store set to open this November in Toronto at the Yorkdale Shopping Centre.

Seattle -- Paladino and Co., a sustainability and green building consulting firm, has acquired green building consulting firm S.D. Keppler & Associates, Rockville, Md. The two firms have joined to establish a comprehensive consulting offering focused on elevating the prominence and impact of green real estate programs within business.

Killingly, Conn. -- Brixmor Property Group announced that Kohl’s has opened a new store at Killingly Plaza, located in Killingly, Conn.

Kohl’s will take 55,068 renovated sq. ft. of the 66,000-sq.-ft. center, which was previously home to Stop & Shop and a Blockbuster video store.

Brixmor, based in New York City, is the owner of Killingly Plaza.

San Francisco -- Real estate investment and management firm Jamestown said Wednesday it has acquired 799 Market Street, a 142,902-sq.-ft. mixed-use development in downtown San Francisco.

The eight-story urban retail and office building includes five floors of creative office space atop 55,000 sq. ft. of retail, currently 100% occupied by a Ross Dress for Less flagship store, one of the five highest performing Ross stores in the nation.