Real Estate

The mad dash to provide same-day delivery on the part of e-commerce players like Amazon is sapping warehouse space in the U.S. As a result, retailers should budget for higher leasing rates in the year ahead.  

Muji, the low-cost, high-design Japanese retailer that had heretofore concentrated its stores in fashionable districts of New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, is making a move into New Jersey.   Muji will open an 8,600-sq.-ft. store next month at the Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus, its first mall location in the Greater New York area. Current shops are found on Fifth Avenue and in Soho and Cooper Square in Manhattan.  

Toys “R” Us may have closed its New York name brand stores, but the retailer still has a fondness for the city.    According to Fortune, Toys “R” Us CEO David Brandon has indicated he would like to add new Toys “R” Us stores to the company’s existing Babies “R” Us New York footprint. Just don’t mention the word “flagship.”  

The $11 billion purchase of Belgium-based supermarket operator Delhaize Group by Netherlands-based grocery conglomerate Ahold is coming closer.   The two companies both announced they expect the deal, approved by the shareholders of both companies in March 2016, to go through before the end of July 2016, subject to regulatory approval by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC).   

The retail tenant roster is filling out at the retail portion of Brickell City Centre, the billion-dollar residential and mixed-use project near completion in Miami. Signing on this week were Bath & Body Works, Pinko, Stitched, Suit Supply, and Victoria’s Secret.  

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.  

Specialty pet retailer Pet Supplies Plus is entering three new states as part of an aggressive 2016 expansion plan.   The chain is entering California, Colorado and Oklahoma, as well as furthering its expansion in the states of New Jersey, Texas, Missouri, Iowa and Georgia. In addition, Pet Supplies Plus recently signed a deal to open 10 new stores in Kansas City, and is on target to open approximately 60 new stores by the end of the year.  

DLC Management announced several promotions within its national leasing team, chief among them the naming of Chris Ressa as senior VP of the department.   A one-time Sherwin Williams real estate rep, Ressa joined DLC as a leasing rep in 2007 and rose through the ranks to become VP of the Midwest region and senior VP of the Northeast/Midwest region before being put in charge of nationwide leasing for this major owner and operator of open-air shopping centers.