Development/Redevelopment

Toronto -- Canada’s second-biggest supermarket operator has acquired Safeway’s Canadian portfolio of stores in a $5.7 billion deal that pulls the Pleasanton, Calif., chain completely out of the country.

Sobeys, a unit of Empire Co. Lt., has acquired 213 grocery stores, 62 fuel stations, 10 liquor stores, 12 manufacturing facilities and four DCs, leaving Safeway with 1,400 stores in the U.S. after the deal.

Green Bay, Wis. – Shopko intends to open five  stores under its Shopko Hometown banner in Afton, Wyo., St. Peter, Minn., and Winneconne, Ellsworth and Tomahawk, Wis., in late fall of this year.

The Shopko Hometown format is designed to serve smaller rural communities with the same product assortments available in larger areas and Shopko currently operates more than 180 stores in this format.

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. -- Target announced that its first 24 store locations in Ontario (Canada) have been awarded LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) certification. As previously announced, the discounter is seeking LEED certification for all 124 stores scheduled to open in Canada this year.

Montreal -- Canadian jewelery retailer Birks will introduce a new retail concept in the summer of 2013, with new stores opening in DIX30 Complex, Brossard, Quebec, and in the new Mapleview Mall in Burlington, Ontario.

The new format, developed in collaboration with Sid Lee Architecture, will feature round 1,500 sq. ft. of retail space and be dedicated to jewelry from the Birks Collection.

Chicago -- The Opus Group has begun construction of a 31,175-sq.-ft. center in Glen Ellyn, Ill., near Chicago. A 20,300-sq.-ft. The Fresh Market will anchor the project.

The site, a vacated car dealership, will include patio seating and 186 parking spaces.

The center is 75% leased. In-line tenants include Great Clips and the first Tide Dry Cleaners in the Chicago area.

Serving the Glen Ellyn and North Wheaton communities, the center is slated to open in late 2013.

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Shopko plans to open five new Shopko Hometown stores in Afton, Wyo., St. Peter, Minn., and Winneconne, Ellsworth and Tomahawk, Wis., in late fall.

Grand Rapids, Mich. -- Meijer will open two 190,000-sq.-ft. supercenters in the northern Indiana towns of Portage and Warsaw on June 13. Meijer operates more than 200 stores in the Midwest and will have 32 stores in Indiana. Meijer expects the stores to create more than 500 new jobs.