Real Estate

Amazon.com is continuing its aggressive strategy of launching new distribution facilities and physical pickup centers.   The retailer will open a new fulfillment center in Kansas City, Kansas by the end of 2016. The 855,000-sq.-ft. facility, the second large-sized fulfillment center Amazon has announced within a span of four months, will create more than 1,000 full-time roles. In addition to this center and an upcoming facility in Edgerton, Amazon has existing Kansas facilities in Lenexa.  

DDR fired president and CEO David Oakes and replaced him with 40-year industry veteran Thomas August. A company press release says Oakes’ termination was unrelated to financial or operating results, though DDR showed a net loss of $93.5 million in 2015 after posting income of $91.3 million the previous year.  

Sales and purchases of shopping center assets at Kimco Realty Corp during the second quarter of 2016 exceeded $1 billion dollars, according to details released by the company.   The Hyde Park, New York-based Kimco sold 22 Canadian shopping centers totaling 28 million sq. ft. for $474.4 million, which included the assignment of $213.5 million of existing mortgage debt. It also disposed of 12 unencumbered U.S. properties totaling 1.5 million sq. ft. for $220.5 million.  

Nordstrom remains in expansion mode with its Nordstrom Rack division.   A 26,000-sq. ft. Nordstrom Rack is scheduled to open in spring 2017, at CityPlace, a 100-acre, master-planned development in Woodbury, Minn.   The property is owned and managed by Elion Partners, a Florida-based real estate investment firm.     

Los Angeles’s Broadway Theater District was the first such entertainment strip to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Is the famed alley of theater palaces now poised to make retail history?  

Walmart grocery shoppers in North Carolina and Virginia may notice an improved assortment.   The discount giant is opening a 450,000-sq.-ft. distribution center in Mebane, North Carolina, on Wednesday, July 13. The facility, which cost nearly $100 million, will be dedicated to distributing perishables to stores in North Carolina and Virginia.  

Brookfield Asset Management announced the completion of its deal to acquire Rouse Properties at a price of $18.25 per share.   Rouse will be merged with Brookfield’s BSREP II Retailing Pool LLC affiliate and the acquired company’s stock will be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange.