Development/Redevelopment

Roswell, Ga. -- PGA Tour Superstore announced plans to open a location in Paramus, N.J. The store, scheduled to open later this year, is PGA Tour’s 15th location.

The PGA superstores are owned and operated by Golf & Tennis Pro Shop, whose controlling owner and chairman is Arthur M. Blank, retired Home Depot co-founder and owner of the Atlanta Falcons.

Ridgefield, Conn. -- Schimenti Construction has announced that it has been selected to build a new Buybuy Baby in the Fashion Center, Paramus, N.J. The 53,028-sq.-ft. store will be on the third floor of the shopping mall.

Designed by Greenberg Farrow Architecture, Arlington Heights, Ill., the store will present a construction challenge in that is has very limited accessibility for bringing in required construction materials.

Safeway has opened the first LEED for Retail certified store in the state of Montana, in the town of Bozeman. The $12 million, 58,000-sq.-ft. store is one of approximately just 200 LEED certified grocery stores in the United States.

Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based Taubman Centers, Inc. has officially broken ground on its new Taubman Prestige Outlets Chesterfield project by hosting a groundbreaking ceremony on July 27.

As part of the ceremony, Taubman revealed a variety of store names that will make their debuts at the new outlet mall, among them Banana Republic Factory Store, Gap Outlet, J. Crew Factory, Brooks Brothers Factory Store, 2b Bebe, American Eagle Outfitters - Off Campus, and Sunglass Hut.

Walmart is used to encountering opposition to its new stores, just not in its own backyard.

However, that is what’s been happening in the sprawling master planned community of Bella Vista, Ark., where residents, some of them anyway, are up in arms over a planned Walmart Neighborhood Market. They say the location of the proposed stores is a poor choice and the 24-hour store with four gas pumps will bring additional traffic to an already busy road.

El Segundo, Calif. -- A Thursday report by Supermarket News said that Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has eliminated as many as 40 positions at its corporate offices.

While the number of layoffs has not been confirmed, sources say it nears 40 jobs, mostly in real estate and store-opening support.
 

Toronto -- Canadian retailer Hudson's Bay Co. said Thursday it will shutter most of the remaining 64 Zellers stores that aren’t being converted to Target locations.

The Zellers parent sold the majority of the leases to Target Corp. last year. Many of the remaining 64 stores are expected to close by March 2013. Those that aren’t closed could potentially open under another retail banner, said Hudson’s Bay.
 

New Orleans -- New Orleans has rolled out the red carpet in order to assure the first Costco location in the state.

The city council on Thursday unanimously approved nearly $6 million in financial incentives for a planned Costco in the New Orleans suburb of Carrollton.  
 
The $45 million, 148,000-sq.-ft. Costco marks the warehouse club operator’s state debut, to reportedly be followed by a second in the capital city of Baton Rouge.

The New Orleans store is slated to open late summer 2013.
 

River Forest, Ill. -- Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.-based Mid-America Asset Management said that DSW has signed a lease for 28,000 sq. ft. at River Forest Town Center in Chicago’s west suburbs.

The shoe retailer is taking space vacated by Linens ‘n Things and plans to open in fall 2012 as a new anchor joining The Children’s Place, The Loft, Chico’s, Whole Foods, Panera Bread, Petco and Walgreens.   
 

Ewing, N.J. -- North Plainfield, N.J.-based Levin Management Corp. said that Planet Fitness has opened a 17,380-sq.-ft. facility at Capitol Plaza, located in Ewing, N.J.

The 357,000-sq. ft. center is leased and managed by Levin Management.