Real Estate

Foothill Ranch, Calif. – The Wet Seal Inc. is launching its new Wet Seal + Plus banner with 30 new stores opening Aug. 16. The stores are opening in California, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia.

Woonsocket, R.I. – CVS/pharmacy launched its entrance into the Seattle market with the grand opening of a new location in the city of Renton, the first CVS/pharmacy in the state of Washington. In addition to the new store in Renton, the company will open two more Seattle-area stores in 2014 and will open its first store in the city of Seattle next summer.

With its entrance into Seattle, CVS/pharmacy now has a presence in all 20 top drugstore markets in the U.S. The Renton store is one of the first tobacco-free CVS locations in the U.S.

Cincinnati -- Phillips Edison-ARC Grocery Center REIT II Inc. has acquired Kipling Marketplace, adding a property in Colorado to the company's portfolio. Kipling Marketplace is a 90,124-sq.-ft. grocery store-anchored shopping center located in Littleton, Colorado, part of the Denver metropolitan statistical area.

Kipling Marketplace is anchored by a Safeway grocery store, the number two grocer in the Denver area. Other national and regional tenants at the center include Sylvan Learning, Dairy Queen, Cost Cutters, and H&R Block.

Kalamazoo, Mich. – A $2.2 million, 23,000-sq.-ft. retail center is reportedly planned for Kalamazoo, Michigan. According to the Kalamazoo Gazette, developer Habib Mandwee plans to open the center in a downtown area next to a location where Kalamazoo Valley Community College wants to build a health-focused campus.

Tenants for the retail center include Biggby Coffee and On the Rocks Market, with room for four other retailers. Developers hope to start construction in spring 2015 with a fall 2015 completion target.

Southlake, Texas -- Retail Properties of America, Inc. announced that Columbia Sportswear's Performance Fishing Gear concept store, plus several additional retailers including Altar'd State (5,162 sq. ft.), Elaine Turner (2,066 sq. ft.), ME SPA – which replaces Coldwater Creek Spa – and J.Jill, have recently opened, or will be opening, at Southlake Town Square in Southlake, Texas.
 
Columbia Sportswear's PFG store, the first of its kind in Texas, will measure 3,456 sq. ft. and is slated to open in late November 2014.

New York -- The Mall at Bay Plaza, New York City’s first enclosed fashion mall in over 40 years, officially opens on Aug. 14.

Brooklyn, N.Y. -- Winick Realty Group said that Pair Wine and Cheese, a retail café focused on the precise pairings of wines and cheeses, has signed a lease for its first location at 140 Atlantic Avenue between Henry and Clinton Streets in the Cobble Hill section of Brooklyn.

Set to open in fourth quarter 2014, Pair Wine and Cheese will occupy approximately 1,000 sq. ft. on the ground floor, as well as about 500 sq. ft. in an outdoor garden.

Houston -- Baker Katz, an X Team International partner and full-service commercial real estate brokerage firm, announced that construction has begun on its retail center in Tomball, Texas.