Real Estate

Howard Hughes Corporation this week topped out the second of three residential towers destined for Ward Village, a 60-acre, master-planned community in Honolulu that will deliver 4,000 new residences when completed.    The finished Anaha tower, set to welcome residents in 2017, will house a Merriman’s restaurant and Oahu’s flagship Whole Foods Market.  

On the heels of the biggest deal in its history, Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. has entered into yet another deal to expand its U.S. footprint.   The retailer has signed an agreement to buy 53 stores in Louisiana, primarily in the Baton Rouge market, from American General Investments and North American Financial Group for an undisclosed price.    

Photo: Steelblue   There’s a reason that dining and entertainment destinations are the key success components at retail centers these days: They are e-commerce-proof, the two marketplace options that continue to draw traffic and post upward-trending numbers. Spending at restaurants has grown faster than any other retail category since the recession, according to the Commerce Department, pushing dining dollars past grocery dollars for the first time.  

Amazon Books has confirmed plans for its fourth physical location.   The retailer will open a store in Chicago, in the city’s Lakeview neighborhood, Crain’s Chicago Business reported. The 7,200-sq.-ft. location will be on the site of what was formerly a bar and grill.   "We're excited to be coming to Chicago," an Amazon spokesperson said in the report.   

Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th is opening three stores on Sept. 1, two north of the border.   The retailer is set to open its first-ever locations in Canada’s Alberta province, a 31,900-sq.-ft. store at South Edmonton Common, Edmonton, and a 30,000-sq.-ft. store at CrossIron Mills, Rocky View.   In addition, the off-pricer is opening a 23,000-sq.-ft. store at El Paseo Square, Palm Desert, California, also on Sept. 1.    

Tuesday Morning Corp. continues to expand its new prototype.    The off-price retailer announced the relocation and upgrade of two locations in Southern California. Its store at California Oaks Center in Murrieta, has relocated to Palm Plaza in Temecula, and its store at Foothill Village Shopping Center has relocated to Terra Vista Town Center (both are in Rancho Cucamonga). The new locations feature the chain’s latest prototype, which includes new fixtures, improved lighting and a redesigned layout.    

Amazon announced plans to open a fulfillment center in Coppell, Texas. It will be the Internet giant’s eighth center in the Lone Star State.   “Our ability to expand Texas operations within three short years is the result of two things: incredible customers and an outstanding workforce in the state,” said Akash Chauhan, Amazon’s VP of North American operations.   

With few new grocery centers being built, developers are upping the ante on existing ones

Pat Donahue, together with his late brother Dan and business partner Tom Schriber, has been in grocery-anchored shopping centers since the ’90s. That’s when Schriber calculated that the company’s long-term fortunes, which had rested on mall development up until then, would be better wagered on high-traffic “necessity-based” retail.

“At malls you get ’em three times a month.