Real Estate

Fast-fashion giant has unveiled a new freestanding store dedicated to beauty.

Phillips Edison, one of the nation’s largest owners and operators of grocery-anchored shopping centers, has formed a new $4 billion REIT focused on this still-growing sector of physical retail.

At a time when most private equity firms are growing increasingly cautious about investing in retail, one firm is going against the grain.   Sycamore Partners is raising its biggest-ever fund, which it will use to invest primarily in retail, CNBC reported. The firm is looking to raise between $3 billion and $4 billion, according to the report.    The news comes a month after Sycamore closed on its $6.9 billion acquisition of Staples, which it is splitting into three parts.  

Spanish footwear brand Camper stays true to its tradition of creating unique store experiences at each of its locations at its new outpost in Manhattan.    

Chase Properties has acquired North Point Shopping Center in Joplin, Missouri, from Kimco Realty Corp.

Malls are not going away entirely, but the word “mall” may be an endangered concept.   CBL Properties, one of the nation’s biggest mall operators, with 121 of them in 27 states, has announced a rebranding campaign that that reflects a new strategic direction focused on operating community gathering places, not mere shopping centers.  

Fiorucci is back — and it hasn't lost its cheeky, irreverent attitude.   The brand, which acquired cult status and flourished throughout the 1970s and 1980s before going into a slow decline, was relaunched earlier this year with a new website, new fashions and pop-ups in Barneys New York and Selfridges (London). Capping off its comeback, Fiorucci has opened a 5,000-sq-ft. flagship in London's SoHo neighborhood. A New York City location is planned for 2018.   

Commercial real estate developers and investors surveyed this summer by the DLA Piper law firm concurred that reports of the demise of brick-and-mortar are greatly exaggerated.   Only 8% of the 222 respondents to the survey, most of them C-level executives, agreed with the statement that brick-and-mortar is “doomed.” That said, just 3% were of the opinion that traditional retail was here to say.