Tenant Update

Lynchburg, Va. — Five Below has signed a 7,732-sq.-ft. lease at Wards Crossing West shopping center in Lynchburg, Va. It will be Five Below’s first store in the Lynchburg trade area.

Divaris Real Estate’s Richmond office represented Five Below in the transaction. DRE is the exclusive representative for Five Below in southwest Virginia.

New York — Vornado Realty Trust plans to spin off nearly 16.1 million sq. ft. of shopping center assets into a new publicly traded REIT by the end of 2014, leaving the company with a largely office-centric portfolio, according to SNL Real Estate.

The move will simplify Vornado’s investment strategy and enable the company to focus on the ownership of office assets in the Washington, D.C., and New York City regions, including the high-value Manhattan office over retail assets.

New York -- SweetFrog and Pizza Studio will open shops at Legends Outlets Kansas City in Kansas City, Kan., this spring and summer respectively. The locations will be the first in the Kansas City metropolitan area for both concepts.

SweetFrog has leased a 1,588-sq.-ft. space. The frozen yogurt franchise invites customers to make their own soft-serve creations, choosing from an array of flavors and toppings.

Ewing, N.J. — Giant Wine & Liquor, doing business as Buy Rite Liquor, has leased 6,000 sq. ft. at the 360,000-sq.-ft. Capitol Plaza in Ewing, N.J. Levin Management, the exclusive leasing and managing agent for the center negotiated the long-term lease.

Seattle -- Nordstrom announced plans to relocate its full-line Westfield University Towne Center (UTC) department store in San Diego to a new space within the evolving mall.

The new two-level, 145,000-sq.-ft. Nordstrom store will open in 2017 as part of Westfield UTC’s resort-inspired redevelopment, which is adding specialty shops, restaurants, entertainment, sustainable design features and family-friendly amenities, as well as structured parking.

New York -- Specialty fashion retailer Express has entered the booming outlet mall sector, opening its first-ever outlet store, at Tanger Outlets National Harbor center in Washington, D.C. The retailer plans to open approximately 30 additional factory outlet locations throughout the United States in 2014, targeting such top markets as Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Las Vegas, New York and other top markets.

By Michael Lebowitz

Pittsburgh – Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. opens three new stores on April 25. The stores are located in Lawton, Okla., Alabaster, Ala., and Tampa. Fla.

The Lawton store will be located at Lawton Town Center, while the Alabaster store will be located at Colonial Promenade Alabaster and the Tampa store will be located at Westshore Plaza. As of April 25, Dick’s will operate 566 stores in the U.S., including 11 in Alabama, 27 in Florida and eight in Oklahoma.