Real Estate

Kansas City, Mo. -- Block Real Estate Services said it has opened an office in Atlanta, to provide asset, property, and construction management services to its current portfolio of commercial properties located in the Atlanta-metropolitan area.

Bert Calvert will oversee the operations for BRES in Atlanta.  
 

Midlothian, Va. -- Bryn Mawr, Pa.-based WP Realty announced Thursday that it has acquired Chesterfield Marketplace located in Midlothian, Va.

This transaction marks WP Realty’s 10th acquisition of the year.

Chesterfield Marketplace is a one-story, 428,576-sq.-ft. community shopping center anchored by PetSmart, Staples and TJ Maxx, and shadow anchored by Home Depot and Toys “R” Us.

The portion of the center acquired, 197,942 sq. ft., is currently 54% occupied with 91,232 sq. ft. of available space.

New York City -- The Walt Disney Co. will open its first-ever Disney Baby store next year at the Americana in Glendale, Calif., the Los Angeles Times reported.

The company plans to open Disney Baby locations -- one on each coast -- to display the best of its new infant line, according to the report.

The stores will give Disney executives the opportunity to interact with the parents of newborns and refine product offerings that span infant apparel, nursery items and bath products.
 

“The economic model of Outlet is the highest return on capital and is where customers gravitate," Gap CEO Glenn Murphy said at an investment conference in New York City, where he revealed the company will close 200 U.S. Gap stores and expand its outlet base.

But don’t expect the stores to be filled with last year’s castoffs.

"I don't want them bringing stripes in the stores if stripes are last year's idea,” Murphy said.

Santa Monica, Calif. -- Robert K. Futterman & Associates said it has doubled its Los Angeles office space to accommodate a now 10-person team.

Robert Cohen has been promoted to president of the Southern California division and Rachel Rosenberg has been promoted to executive VP, now overseeing all Southern California operations for the firm.
 

Columbia, S.C. -- Edens & Avant announced Friday that its CEO Terry S. Brown has been named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2011 Carolinas Award winner.

The awards program recognizes entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. Brown was selected as the winner in the real estate category from nearly 100 nominations across the Carolinas.

As part three of our ongoing coverage of RECon, the annual retail real estate convention conducted by the International Council of Shopping Centers and held May 22-25 in Las Vegas, Chain Store Age talked with Joe Boehm, senior VP, retail leasing, of Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises, regarding his impressions of RECon 2011 and what Forest City projects garnered the most attention at the show.

What impression of the state of the industry were you left with by the end of RECon 2011?

Ann Arbor, Mich. -- Borders Group said Thursday that it is faced with closing dozens of its best-performing stores due to a requirement of its bankruptcy financing if their landlords don't agree to extend a lease-negotiation period.

Borders, which filed for bankruptcy protection in February, has extension agreements for 365 stores. But the book seller said in a court filing Thursday that it is still negotiating extensions for 51 stores, many of which are among its top-selling stores, including one near Penn Station in New York.