Real Estate

SHOP TALK
RETAIL NOTES: Kleinfeld Hudson’s Bay, a glamorous bridal shop on the top floor of the Hudson’s Bay’s flagship and headquarters building in Toronto, took the big prize — Store of the Year — in the Association for Retail Environments 2015 Design Awards. The annual awards recognize the best in retail design, store fixtures and visual presentation. Designed in house by HBC Store Planning, the 14,000-sq.-ft.
EXPANSION TEAMS
A look at brands and categories that are growing

I read CSA editor-in-chief Marianne Wilson’s recent “From the Editor’s Desk” column (page 8, March 2015 issue, Chain Store Age) with great interest. Her piece — “The store is back (even though it never left)” — touched on the topic of brick-and-mortar retail expansion and “the relevance of offline retail in an omnichannel world.”

The article got me thinking in more detail about the retail expansion we are seeing in 2015. What brands are growing?

TREND-WATCHING

Industry insiders are the best trend-watchers. Here’s what the experts are seeing.

“There is more selectivity in the site selection process. There is a trend toward downsizing, and more non-retail tenants are taking interest. There is also a growing divide between A-plus real estate and everything else in the market. Everyone wants the best properties.” — Mark Dufton, CEO of DJM Real Estate, a Gordon Brothers Group company

“Retailers are thinking about a smaller footprint, but in most cases not significantly smaller.
HOT MARKETS, HOT GROWTH CONCEPTS

Restaurants and retail have fertile expansion ground in certain markets

While it’s true that technology, brick-and-mortar changes, and evolving consumer behavior are causing foundational shifts in the retail industry, a closer look at different U.S.
WHAT’S ON TAP FOR RECON 2015?

When the International Council of Shopping Centers opens the doors of the Las Vegas Convention Center on May 17 to retailers and shopping center attendees from around the globe, it will unveil a lineup of newly built, underway and redeveloped properties ripe for deal-making.

Leasing interest at RECon 2015 is expected to be high, this despite naysayers who have predicted the demise of the shopping mall. Not likely, say those in the know.
CURATING A NEIGHBORHOOD

Downtown LA’s South Park will emerge as a new retail district

It’s rare enough for any developer — or group of developers and brokers — to plan an entirely new retail district almost literally from the ground up. It’s utterly unique to do so in one of the largest cities in the world.

Yet, that’s exactly what’s happening in Downtown Los Angeles’ South Park neighborhood.
STEELPOINTE HARBOR

The largest economic development project in Bridgeport, Connecticut, since the Industrial Revolution

Steelpointe Harbor in Bridgeport, Connecticut, is that city’s largest economic development project since the Industrial Revolution. Don’t believe it?
UPLIFTING CENTRAL NEW JERSEY

The Shoppes at Middletown brings specialty retail and dining to affluent eastern Monmouth County

A unique new shopping center is being designed to bring boutique and specialty retail and dining options to eastern Monmouth County in Central New Jersey. The Shoppes at Middletown, at 380,000 sq. ft., will emerge as a premier town center development when it opens in 2017. The project will be developed on 50 acres of the overall 120-acre project, and will feature 2,200 ft.
CELEBRATING CELEBRATION POINTE

Florida’s first transit-oriented development opens fall 2016

It may be hard to imagine that the home to one of the largest public universities in the United States is somewhat undersung. But that’s exactly what the developers of the 1 million-sq.-ft.
REAL ESTATE’S 10 UNDER 40

Every business magazine sports an “X Under 40” list celebrating precocious professionals. But, really, isn’t it almost always youthful drive and optimism that feeds the engine of progress?
The stories of Chain Store Age’s 2017 list of over-achievers under 40 abound with examples of young people from different disciplines who all discovered retail real estate as the perfect channel for their passions.
GIVE ME LIBERTY

Liberty Center is Greater Cincinnati’s something-for-everyone development

There are mixed-use developments, town centers, and then there are PLACES, and Liberty Center is being designed to be just that when it brings 1.2 million sq. ft. of retail, restaurant, offices, residences, a hotel and three parks — including one inside the enclosed mall — to a young and affluent area of North Cincinnati.

Liberty Center, opening Oct.
MANAGEMENT ACCELERATES

Whether local or global, growth has been robust for 2014’s top third-party managers

The 26th annual survey of Fastest-Growing Managers surveys new domestic and international third-party management and leasing contracts obtained during the 2014 calendar year and ranks the top performers.