Real Estate

Chicago -- Urban Retail Properties, LLC, announced the acquisition of Oakland Square and Oakland Plaza in Troy, Michigan, by its parent company RAIT Financial Trust. Purchase price was $50.8 million.

Both properties are adjacent to Oakland Mall, a 1.5-million-sq.-ft. super-regional center that Urban Retail currently manages.

Niagara Falls, N.Y. -- Macerich announced that its outlet property Fashion Outlets of Niagara Falls USA will open the doors of its planned expansion on Oct. 23. The new expansion delivers nearly 175,000 sq. ft. and opens with 35 new tenants, and more to come in 2015.

Flushing, Queens -- Onex Real Estate Partners announced The Shops at SkyView Center has welcomed five new tenants to the growing roster of retailers during the third quarter.
 
The newest addition to Flushing’s mixed-use, multi-level shopping center includes Nordstrom Rack, the off-price retail division of Nordstrom, which officially opened on Sept. 10. Additionally, Justice & Brothers, a national retailer known for the best in tween fashion and accessories, catering to both boys and girls, has opened on Level D.
 

Highland Village, Texas -- Trademark Property Co., the Fort Worth-based retail and mixed-use development, investment, and third-party services firm, announced that Whole Foods Market is now open at The Shops at Highland Village, in Highland Village, Texas. The store is the first Denton County location for the natural and organic foods retailer.

Virginia Beach, Va. -- Divaris Real Estate announced the signing of a lease with Paper Source for 2,700 sq. ft. of retail space in the Town Center of Virginia Beach. The next closest location for the retailer is in the Northern Virginia city of Alexandria.

Paper Source makes its Southeastern Virginia and Northeast North Carolina market debut on Main Street between Zushi Japanese Bistro and the soon-to-be-open Free People store. Paper Source is anticipated to open in first quarter 2015.

Houston -- JLL announced it has expanded its retail tenant representation capabilities in Houston with the addition of Matt Parsons. In his new role, Parsons will be responsible for identifying and securing new space for expanding retailers in the market, and will partner with Mark Raines, who joined JLL in July to lead the firm’s Houston retail brokerage practice.



Seattle -- Nordstrom on Friday opened its first store in Canada, at Chinook Centre in Calgary, Alberta. The two-level, 140,000-sq.-ft. store is also the department store retailer’s first location outside the United States.
 
"Being in business for 113 years, this is really a historic time for us as we open our first store in Canada - our first international store," said Sheila Wooldridge, Nordstrom Chinook Centre store manager.

Undeterred by pet specialty heavyweights PetSmart and Petco, Pet Supermarket just opened its 150th location and has plans for more.

The forty year old Sunrise, Fla.-based company recently opened its 150th location in the central Florida town of Bartow and indicated it plans additional growth while stopping short of providing a specific expansion target. The company’s stores measure about 7,500-sq.-ft. and are currently concentrated in states such as Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Kentucky, California and Nevada.