Real Estate

First, the good news: A strong retail sector is helping to drive 2016 U.S. construction activity, with retail construction projects up 24.4% year-over-year.

That’s according to JLL’s latest report on non-residential U.S. construction activity. On the less positive side, the report noted there is a cloud of economic uncertainty, which has companies laser-focused on lean budgeting and smart spending decisions.

It’s been a long time, but Rite Aid Corp. is opening a new distribution center.

Located in Spartanburg, South Carolina, the facility is the company’s first new distribution center in 16 years. Rite Aid is currently awaiting regulatory approval for a proposed $17.2 billion merger with Walgreens Boots Alliance.

A well-located, 30-year-old mall is about to undergo a major overhaul and add a much-needed shopping, dining and entertainment alternative in the Myrtle Beach marketplace.

According to Misuma Holdings and Peak Financial Partners, Myrtle Beach Mall will launch a full redevelopment in 2017.  

Nordstrom has opened its second full-line store In Toronto.   The department store retailer opened a three-level, 199,000-sq.-ft. store at Yorkdale Shopping Centre on Oct. 21. It is the company's second location in Toronto, with the first, at CF Toronto Eaton Centre, opening in September.      

A company named after the first reptile to develop the feather for flight is opening freestanding stores.
 
Arc’teryx Equipment, a Canadian manufacturer and retailer of high-performance outdoor apparel and equipment, will open a store in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood this July. It will follow that up with a store in Chicago’s Buckhead neighborhood in August, and one at Toronto’s Yorkdale Mall in October, giving it a total of 11 locations.

Saks Fifth Avenue plans to shutter its 107,000-sq.-ft. store at The Mall at Short Hills, in Short Hills, New Jersey, amid plans to open a flagship in a huge retail and entertainment center in the state.
     
As previously announced, the upscale retailer plans to open a store at the under-construction, three-million-sq.-ft. American Dream Meadowlands mega-center, in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Blue Nile is expanding its fledgling store portfolio.    The online jewelry retailer has opened its second physical location, at The Westchester mall in White Plains, New York. Blue Nile opened its first store in June 2015, at Roosevelt Field mall in Garden City, New York. Two additional locations will open later this summer: one at Tysons Corner Center mall in Fairfax County, Virginia, and one at the Washington Square mall in Portland, Oregon.      

Sports Authority’s remaining 320 store leases will be auctioned in June.