Real Estate

New York City -- Gap has chosen Manhattan's Upper West Side for its second freestanding Athleta store, Crain’s New York Business reported.

The report said has signed a lease to open a 3,500-sq.-ft. Athleta at 216 Columbus Ave. at W. 70th Street. The store will open in the fall, and Gap is already seeking more New York area locations, according to Crain's.

Gap bought Petaluma-based Athleta, a catalog and website that sell women's athletic clothes, for $150 million in 2008.

New York City -- Women’s fashion apparel retailer Francesca's Holdings Corp. filed for up to an estimated $150 million to be raised in an initial public offering.

The company has about $41.4 million in proceeds from the offering earmarked toward repaying a senior secured credit facility, Dow Jones Newswires reported. Remaining funds may be used for opening new stores and growing its e-commerce business.

For the year ended Jan. 29, Francesca's same-store sales climbed 15% on top of a 9.8% increase a year earlier.

Rumors that Target would open in San Francisco’s Metreon center have now been confirmed: Terranomics announced it has brokered a signed lease for Target to open in the Wesfield-owned center.

The lease for 99,677 sq. ft. was only just officially signed, San Francisco Business Times reported. The Metreon will soon begin construction on a multi-million dollar remodel that will make room for Target, and will recreate the ground level as a food collection of Bay Area restaurant concepts.

NORTH BERGEN, N.J. — Vitamin Shoppe on Monday opened the doors to store No. 500 in St. Peters, Mo. — the company’s first store in that market and the third in the state.

New York City -- A report Monday by the Wall Street Journal said that Dish Network Corp. will assume leases on more than 500 Blockbuster stores after it completes its acquisition of the video-rental chain.

The lease takeovers will assure that Blockbuster will maintain some physical presence.

In a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, Blockbuster also listed hundreds of locations where it plans to reject leases, as its number of open stores continues to dwindle.

I’m not much of a follower of astrology and the signs of the zodiac, but I do know that 2011 is the Year of the Rabbit on the Chinese calendar.

It seems somehow fortuitous that speed and agility define a year that is all about economic recovery. And retail is moving forward at a rate that, while not exactly hare-like, is at least faster than the proverbial tortoise.

Oxnard, Calif. -- New York City-based Centro Properties Group announced that Wet Seal has opened a 6,000-sq.-ft. store at Esplanade Shopping Center, located in Oxnard, Calif. 

The new store celebrated its grand opening on April 16.

Centro Properties Group is the owner of Esplanade Shopping Center.

Highland Village, Texas -- Jacksonville, Fla.-based Regency Centers said it has leased retail space in Highland Village, Texas, at The Shops at Highland Village to The Lash Lounge.

The Lash Lounge has leased 2,000 sq. ft. and is slated to open this summer.

The 352,000-sq.-ft. mixed-use lifestyle center is anchored by AMC 12 Theaters and Barnes & Noble Booksellers alongside national retailers such as Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, Bath & Body Works and Potbelly Sandwich Works.