Real Estate

Skilken/Gold has announced the sale of six Neighborhood Market stores, one of which was a prototype of Walmart’s new design for its grocery store concept.   The Louisiana stores all average about 42,000 sq. ft., including the Baton Rouge location that emerged from Walmart’s “build-to-suit” program initiated in 2014.   The Hampshire Companies and a South Korean partner acquired the properties for $78 million.   

One of the nation’s fastest-growing communities shows no signs of slowing down.    Amazon has selected the master-planned town outside Orlando as the site of an 850,000-sq.-ft. distribution center set to open in 2018. It will create more than 1,500 full-time jobs, according to Amazon’s VP of North America Operations Akash Chauhan.  

Gymboree Corp. is "right-sizing" its store footprint.  

The remaking of Retail Properties of America is right on track, according to a financial review provided by the Oak Brook, Illinois company.   RPAI reported that it has completed $414.8 million worth of dispositions in the year to date, of which $367.2 million were non-target, multi-tenant retail assets.   In executing its strategic plan to focus on high-performing markets and properties, RPAI has exited multi-tenant retail operations in Alabama, Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Ohio.

Cushman & Wakefield has tapped Dominic Delgado as senior director of its retail brokerage for Palm Beach and Broward County, Florida.   Delgado moves over to Cushman from LDR Partners, a Florida firm that focused on acquisition of low-performing retail, office, and hospitality real estate during the recession. As executive VP there, Delgado represented a mix of national and regional developers and REITs.  

The chairman and CEO of Sears Holding Co., is reportedly considering a deal with bankrupt Sears Canada.  

PetSmart was busy opening stores during its first quarter.   The retailer opened 18 new stores in the U.S. and Canada in its fiscal quarter ending May 1, 2017. PetSmart opened 70 net new stores in 2016 and expects to open more than this number in fiscal year 2017.     

The fourth floor of the Mall of America, which has long been a center of night-time activity at the Bloomington, Minnesota, institution, continues to undergo an overhaul.