Real Estate

Springfield, Va. -- PREIT announced that Springfield Town Center in Springfield, Virginia, has recorded $505 PSF in sales for tenants less than 10,000 sq. ft. open during the center's first full year of operation, 18% above the company's portfolio average as of September 30, 2015.

The newly redeveloped 1.35 million sq. ft. regional mall was acquired by PREIT March 2015 and celebrated its grand re-opening in October 2014 after undergoing a dramatic renovation and rebranding.

The National Basketball Association is set to open a flagship on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue next week. And according to media reports, it includes lots of attenting-getting flourishes.

The centerpiece of the new three-level store, which comes some four years after the NBA closed its previous flagship on Fifth Avenue, will be a 32-foot-tall basketball net with 31,000 LEDs that reaches up to the second floor, Women’s Wear Daily reported. The net, visible from the street, is topped with sculpture designed to replicate a basketball tread.

The former president of Trader Joe's has created a supermarket concept in the Boston area that offers fresh, healthy food at affordable prices. Now just a few months since opening, the store boasts over 300 customers visiting daily and has begun to look into expanding with a second location in the Boston area. [Food World News]

Houston --

Steel City Pops has leased 3,710-sq. ft. of retail space in Heights Plaza, a specialty retail center. Kyle Knight with the Houston office of The Weitzman Group handled negotiations as tenant representative for Steel City Pops.

Heights Plaza, a project of Houston developer Radom Capital, represents the redevelopment of a historic retail property that is home to several Texas-based concepts, including Bird’s Barbershop.

Houston -- Baker Katz announced the sale of a 2.12-acre property with an existing 13,000 sq. ft. office building located in Houston, near the cross streets of U.S. Highway 59 N and West Little York Road.

Baker Katz principal Kenneth Katz made the announcement.

Auto chain Pep Boys announced Monday that a $16.50 per share takeover bid by activist investor Carl Icahn is a "superior offer" to a rival proposal by Bridgestone Retail Operations in September.

It's just the latest chapter in the ongoing saga of who gets to acquire Pep Boys, which has 800 locations in 35 states.

Pep Boys says it now prefers to take the offer from Icahn Enterprises and that Tokyo's Bridgestone Corp. has until Wednesday to up its bid.

Westfield Corp. announced Monday it has sold five of its U.S. shopping malls — totaling more than 6 million sq. feet of retail space across four states — to help fund a property development program. The move is line with the company’s recent strategy to focus on its flagship assets, which include the new World Trade Center mall, due to open in spring 2016.

Forever 21 is growing its its lower-priced format, F21 RED.

The chain has opened three new stores, with locations in Brooklyn, New York; San Diego, California and Kendall, Florida. The Brooklyn store is 35,000 sq. ft., while the San Diego and Kendall locations are more than 20,000 sq. ft.

Forever 21 launched F21 RED, which carries merchandise for men, women and children, in the first quarter of 2014. There are currently more than 20 F21 locations in the United States.