Real Estate

Seattle –- Amazon.com will open a holiday pop-up store at San Francisco Westfield Centre, in San Francisco, on Wednesday, Oct. 22, according to the San Francisco Business Journal.   

Duluth, Minn. –- Maurices is ramping up its store openings in time for the holiday season with plans to open 16 new stores. These expansions will give the girls’ apparel retailer a total of 938 locations, advancing it toward its goal of having more than 1,300 stores in the United States and Canada.   

Online referral service provider Angie’s List plans to increase the size of its headquarters in Indianapolis and increase the workforce to 2,800 people within five years.

Angie’s List, a review drive enterprise that helps facilitate transactions between more than 2.8 million consumers and service providers in 720 categories, said it plans to grow its base of employees from 500 in 2011 to roughly 2,800 by 2019. The company said the expansion was enabled in part by an attractive incentive plan from the City of Indianapolis and State of Indiana.

Community shopping centers are evolving to become more than service providers to a neighborhood or trade area.  Designed and merchandised correctly, they are fostering a sense of community and building experience.

Sophisticated—and highly detailed—master plans are an increasingly important piece of the planning process.   By Roy Higgs   With mixed-use development (and redevelopment) a continued trend, complex multi-stage projects are an increasingly common feature on the civic landscape of towns and cities across the country. Consequently, many planning authorities are asking for (and, in some cases, demanding) much more than just basic sketch plans before signing off on a project.

Miami -- A visionary downtown Miami project has launched construction, promising to deliver a mix of uses and a true urban community.  

Las Vegas -- The Howard Hughes Corp. on Oct. 9 officially opened Downtown Summerlin in Las Vegas, the largest retail development to open in the U.S. since the economic downturn.    The destination features 125 stores, restaurants and entertainment venues located in a 106-acre expanse of prime real estate just off the 215 Beltway, between Sahara Avenue and Charleston Boulevard. The development also features a nine-story Class A office building - One Summerlin. 

Amazon once again takes the lead in disruptive news with reports it will open its first-ever physical store in New York City on West 34th Street, across from the Empire State Building and down the street from the iconic Macy’s flagship store. Even more than for its impressive location, the store is notable as the ultimate symbol of the continuing primacy of brick-and-mortar in the omnichannel environment.