Real Estate

DDR has purchased a new Chicago center anchored by a Mariano’s supermarket for $81 million. The 137,618-sq.-ft. property is located on 3030 North Broadway in the Lakeview section of town.   XSport Fitness, PNC Bank, and Starbucks are tenants in the center along with Mariano’s, a chain Chicagoland founded by former Dominick’s deli worker Bob Mariano, who grew it to nearly 48 stores. The chain is now owned by Kroger.  

Amazon is getting ready to break ground on yet another new fulfillment center — its first in Colorado.    The one million-sq.-ft. facility being constructed in Aurora is expected to create more than 1,000 new full-time jobs. Associates at the Aurora warehouse will pick, pack and ship larger customer items, such as sports equipment, musical instruments and furniture.  

A mixed-use project with 103,000 sq. ft. of retail in the western suburbs of Chicago has been purchased by Retail Properties of America for $88 million.   Main Street Promenade, a town center style development in Naperville, is 93% leased and includes tenants such as Ann Taylor, Sur la Table, White House | Black Market, and Anthropologie.   

Whole Foods Market has announced the first Northeast location for its streamlined and value-oriented 365 by Whole Foods Market concept.   The retailer will open a 365 store in Brooklyn, New York, in the Fort Greene neighborhood, not far from the Barclay Center. The opening date was not announced.   Whole Foods debuted the 365 format in 2016, and has opened three locations to date, in Silver Lake, Calif; Bellevue, Wash., and Lake Oswego, Oregon.  

Trion Properties, which is in the business of acquiring and turning around distressed properties, has sold its Valencia Town Center Plaza outside of Los Angeles for $9.8 million.   The 21,186-sq.-ft. Santa Clarita center was less than 50% leased when Trion acquired it for $6.8 million in 2013, according to Managing Partner Max Sharkansky, and now is near full occupancy. He said the center “presented an opportunity for us to increase net operating income through aggressive leasing and cosmetic upgrades.  

Another apparel retailer is looking to downsize its store portfolio.   BCBG Max Azria Group plans to close some stores as it turns its focus to licensing, e-commerce and selling through other retailers, Bloomberg reported.     

Though General Growth Properties has long been most commonly known as GGP in the retail industry, the big mall owner has now made it official.   Effective Jan. 27, the big mall owner with 126 properties in 40 states, officially changes its name to GGP. Founded in 1954 to develop grocery-anchored strip centers, GGP evolved into one of the largest providers of A-level mall space.  

Everything is bigger in Texas — including Amazon’s breadth of fulfillment centers.   The retail giant is planning its ninth Texas fulfillment center in Coppell, a move that will create 1,000 more full-time positions. The facility, which will be outfitted with state-of-the-art robotics, will be Amazon’s third located in Coppell. Amazon’s first Coppell warehouse began fulfilling customer orders in 2013; the second launched during the 2016 holiday shopping season.  

7-Eleven is in the process of widening its presence in New Jersey from the New York City suburbs to southern shore towns.   The convenience store chain’s leasing company in the area, R.J. Brunelli, says it is searching for 2,800-sq.-ft. to 3,000-sq.-ft. free-standing or end cap units in Union, Ocean, Monmouth, Mercer, and Middlesex counties. Suburban sites must be situated on roads with minimum traffic counts of 15,000 vehicles a day and must have lot sizes of at least 12,000 sq. ft. to accommodate 10 parking spaces.

Phillips Edison & Company, a leading national player in grocery-anchored centers, has promoted David Wik to senior VP of acquisitions.   In his past six years with the company, most recently spearheading growth in the Southeast, Wik sourced the acquisition of more than 100 assets representing $1 billion-plus in investments for the company’s several REITs. He previously worked in acquisitions at Midland Atlantic Development.