Real Estate

Walgreens Boots Alliance secured regulatory approval for a deal to buy stores from Rite Aid Corp. after a reduction in the number of stores and price. The deal will still enable Walgreens to dramatically increase its store footprint, giving it a total of about 10,000 U.S. locations.   

A limited number of tenants have been able to re-open their stores at 14 Brixmor properties severely damaged by Hurricane Irma. The company’s remaining 116 properties in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Alabama are open and operating.   The partially opened properties, which were not named in the report from Brixmor, suffered wind and water related damages and power outages.  

Kohl's is extending its collaboration with Amazon in a way that is almost sure to drive increased traffic into its stores while solving one of the online giant's biggest challenges.     The department store retailer will begin accepting Amazon.com returns at 82 Kohl's stores in Los Angeles and Chicago. The chain will not only ship eligible items back to an Amazon fulfillment center free of charge, but will also pack up the goods for shipping if the customer has not done so.    

As architects who have completed lots of projects for retail, we are often approached by mall owners looking to resurrect properties by turning them into mixed-use developments. The truth is that while mixed-use can be a fix for troubled malls, it’s not an easy fix.  

Fort Worth-based Trademark Property Co. has launched fundraisers at its properties in Texas to aid victims of Hurricane Harvey. Proceeds will be distributed via United Way, which is waiving all general and administrative fees in the arrangement with Trademark.   Tenants, financial partners, customers, and the community are being engaged in events, and Trademark has pledged to match up to $150,000 in donations. Miller Capital Advisory has pledged a matching donation total of $50,000 for fund collected at La Palmer in Corpus Christi. 

If you’re not in gaming or medical arts, virtual reality is likely to be one of those items that sits on your to-do list, but is not likely to be near the top. It’s one of those items for which many a business person elects late-adopter status: Let the tech geeks and early adopters figure it all out and then I’ll jump in when it becomes relevant to me.  

Amazon continues to bolster its distribution fleet.   The online giant will be adding a new 1 million-sq.-ft. fulfillment center in Monroe, Ohio — its fourth warehouse in The Buckeye State. Amazon will hire 1,000 associates to manage the picking, packing and shipping larger customer items, such as sports equipment, gardening tools, and pet food.    Amazon already operates fulfillment centers in the cities of Etna and Obetz, and is preparing for the opening of a new facility in North Randall.

Walgreens Boots Alliance is reportedly tweaking its previously announced deal with Rite Aid Corp.