Tenant Update

New York -- Saks Inc. announced Friday that it plans to close its Saks Fifth Avenue store located in Stamford Town Center in Stamford, Conn., in early 2014.

The shuttering is part of the department store chain’s continued right-sizing strategy. “We routinely evaluate the productivity, profitability, and potential of each of our store locations,” said Steve Sadove, CEO. “This planned closing is consistent with our strategy of utilizing our resources in our most productive Saks Fifth Avenue stores.”

By Ben Carrasco, litigation associate, Smith, Robertson, Elliott & Douglas, LLP, Austin, Texas,
[email protected]

Frenchtown Township, Mich. -- Youngstown, Ohio-based Cafaro Co. said Monday that rue21 will open a new store at Mall of Monroe, located in Frenchtown Township, Mich.

The 5,700-sq.-ft. store is slated to open June 2013 in the mall’s south concourse, and will be the only rue21 location in Monroe County.

Cafaro also said that The Monroe Expo Center opened Feb. 4, converted from a former retail use to a 51,000-sq.-ft. event space.

Fort Worth, Texas -- Trademark Property Co. said Tuesday that Dick’s Sporting Goods and Corner Bakery Café will open this year at The Shops at La Palmera in Corpus Christi, Texas. The 61,233-sq.-ft. Dick’s store will anchor the 200,000-sq.-ft. redeveloped and rebranded center, located across from La Palmera mall. Construction on Dick’s is set to begin in February with opening slated for fall 2013.

Scheduled to open in May is a 4,166-sq.-ft. Corner Bakery Café, adding to its 140 locations across the country.

Shrewsbury, N.J. -- National Realty & Development Corp. said Tuesday that Colonial American Bank has joined the line-up of tenants at Shrewsbury Plaza, located in Shrewsbury, N.J.

Colonial American Bank’s location in the 225,000-sq.-ft. shopping center is the bank’s second location in New Jersey and is slated to open spring 2013.

Anchor tenants at the center include Marshalls, Acme and AC Moore.

Walmart’s efforts to gain share in California’s grocery market continued this week with the opening of another Neighborhood Market in San Jose.

The 41,000-sq.-ft. store is Walmart’s second Neighborhood Market in San Jose and third in the San Francisco area and could be a sign of more to come. Since opening it first Neighborhood Market in California last summer, the format has quickly grown to approximately 20 locations. And there are likely more to come as Walmart looks to accelerated expansion of smaller format stores nationwide in the coming years.

Aurora, Colo. -- Brixmor Property Group announced Wednesday a 28,000-sq.-ft. lease was executed with Books-A-Million at Arapahoe Crossings, located in Aurora, Colo., a suburb of Denver.

Brixmor, based in New York City, is the owner of Arapahoe Crossings.

St. Paul, Minn. -- Paster Enterprises announced Tuesday the hiring of Mike Sturdivant as a leasing agent for the company.

In his new role, Sturdivant will develop and launch marketing strategies for PE and prospective tenants. His duties will include working with existing tenants, being active in the brokerage community and researching industry trends.