Real Estate

Tomball, Texas -- Houston-based commercial real estate brokerage Baker Katz said it has acquired the Four Corners Shopping Center in Tomball, Texas.

Baker Katz purchased the 120,000-sq.-ft. center through an investment fund dedicated to real estate development, acquisition and ownership. The center holds the last remaining big-box vacancy in Tomball, a 45,000-sq.-ft. former Kroger space. Baker Katz plans to begin a major renovation on the center later this year and will look to re-lease the space.

Chicago -- Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.-based Mid-America Asset Management said that Charming Charlie will open an 8,650-sq.-ft. store at Geneva Commons, in Geneva, Ill., a western suburb of Chicago.

The new store is slated to open summer 2011 in the 437,650-sq.-ft. lifestyle center, joining a recently opened Sephora, which debuted a 3,909-sq.-ft. store in the center.

Geneva Commons is anchored by Dick’s Sporting Goods, Barnes & Noble, Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn, H & M, Anthropologie and more.
 

New York City -- Wal-Mart Stores is ramping up the opening of its mid-sized Neighborhood Market format, which is being renamed Walmart Market, said  Bill Simon, president and CEO, Walmart U.S., on Wednesday at the William Blair & Co. Growth Stock Conference in Chicago.

The Market stores, which average around 42,000 sq. ft., are delivering returns on the same level as supercenters, Simon said, and can be approved and built in less time.

Phoenix -- Karlin Real Estate has acquired through foreclosure two Phoenix, AZ-area shopping centers totaling nearly 220,000 sq. ft., following the firm's purchase of a non performing loan portfolio with an aggregate unpaid principal of approximately $65.5 million.

China ranks as the most attractive emerging market for apparel retailers, according to global management consulting firm A.T. Kearney’s 2011 Global Retail Development Index for Apparel. The report advises that as U.S. consumer confidence and the overall economy continues an uneven recovery, the nation’s apparel retailers must look to high-growth emerging markets to expand their businesses and increase revenues.

Johannesburg, South Africa -- A Tuesday report by Bloomberg said that South Africa’s Economic Development Ministry made an “aggressive intervention” in Wal-Mart Stores’ bid to buy a stake in Massmart Holdings Ltd.

South Africa’s Trade, Economic Development and Agriculture Ministries made a joint bid to the Competition Tribunal to force Wal-Mart to restrict imports if it buys a controlling stake in Johannesburg-based Massmart, concerned about job losses.

Target ended last year with sales of $67.4 billion and earnings per share of $4, but company chairman, president and CEO Gregg Steinhafel believes sales will hit $100 billion and earnings will double to $8 a share within six or seven years.

Cary, N.C. -- Convenience-store operator The Pantry is selling 114 locations located in nine states throughout the Southeast. The properties are a combination of owned and leased locations. All are operating convenience stores with gasoline, except for one standalone store.

NRC Realty Capital Advisors, Chicago, is assisting The Pantry in the sale. As of May 9, The Pantry operated 1,659 stores in 13 states under select banners, including Kangaroo Express, its primary operating banner.