Real Estate

Kansas City -- Taubman Centers and The Macerich Company announced a joint venture for Country Club Plaza location in Kansas City, Missouri from Highwoods Properties. The mixed-use retail and office property was purchased for $660 million cash, excluding transaction costs. Taubman and Macerich each own a 50% interest in the center.

Philadelphia -- PREIT announced that its recent sale of Palmer Park Mall marked the ninth lower-productivity mall sold by the company since having announced its plans to divest non-core properties in late 2012. These properties generated average sales per sf of $254 at the time of sale. The company also has four additional malls under contract with significant non-refundable deposits. Pro-forma January 31, 2016 portfolio sales per square foot excluding the assets sold or under contract for sale are $451.

Fort Worth, Texas -- Trademark Property Co. announced that it is under contract to purchase 3.5 acres of land adjacent to its 278,000-sq.-ft. WestBend mixed-use development in Fort Worth, Texas. The parcel is located on University Drive immediately south of WestBend, along the Trinity River.

Chicago -- CBRE recently completed the sale of two retail centers in the Chicago, Illinois suburbs for $14.8 million.

Regency Square, a 43,361 sq. ft. center, located in Huntley, Illinois is 97% leased. The center is anchored by Aldi and includes tenants Athletico, Jimmy John’s, Little Caesar’s and SportClips. CBRE represented the seller, Interstate Partners. Regency Square sold for $10.8 million. CBRE’s Derrick Almassy and Rich Frolik represented Interstate Partners in the sale to Hamilton Partners.

Columbus, Ohio -- CASTO, The Daimler Group and The New Albany Company announced a joint venture to develop a large scale, mixed-use property, comprising 320 acres located in Columbus, Ohio at State Route 161 and Hamilton Road interchange.

Hamilton Quarter when completed will include over 700,000 sq. ft. of office space, 1 million sq. ft. of retail, restaurant, and entertainment space, up to 800 multi-family units, and 130 senior living units, as well as hospitality and other destination oriented venues.

Fort Lee, N.J. -- Tucker Development announced long-term leases for first phase of Hudson Lights in Fort Lee, New Jersey. CycleBar, Linwood Wine & Liquor and SeeSaw will join the roster of tenants already signed to nearly 75% leased, 1 million sq. ft. development, anchored by iPic Theaters. The first-phase of the project will comprise approximately 140,000 sq. ft. of retail and 276 luxury apartments.

Convenience store chain CST Brands has addedtwo new independent directors to its board and announced it plans to pursue “strategic alternatives” that could include selling the company.

The company says the strategic review process will be comprehensive and will include a fresh look at several of CST's previously announced strategic initiatives and plans.

Amazon.com is continuing to expand its network of physical pickup points at colleges and universities across the U.S.

Amazon has recently announced agreements to open staffed pickup locations at the The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Akron.

Opening this summer, this 2,509-sq.-ft. space at the University of Texas will be located in Gregory Gymnasium. Additionally, Amazon Student and Prime members will receive free one-day pickup for orders placed by 10 p.m. on more than two million items.

There has been a great deal of discussion and analysis in recent years regarding the ongoing struggles of many traditional department store giants. Brands like Sears, J.C. Penney and Macy’s are scratching and clawing to continue to stay afloat, together with a number of big-box retailers that are also struggling to remain competitive in an evolving retail marketplace.

A&G Realty Partners has been retained by The Sports Authority to manage the sale of retail store leases and assist in reducing the retailer’s occupancy costs following its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

A&G Realty is currently accepting bids on the leases, which range from 10,000 to 75,000 sq. ft. and are located in many of the major retail markets in the country including prestigious locations in California, Florida, Puerto Rico and Texas.  The auction will take place in mid-April.