Microsoft

A Delaware developer’s plan to create a green space and shopping center in Lewes, Delaware, an idyllic shore town that was the site of the first European settlement in the state, has encountered a new obstacle.   After overcoming opposition by some residents to the commercial re-zoning of 11 acres in this town north of Rehobeth Beach, J.G. Townsend Jr. & Co. now must content with protestors who say that its proposed Gills Neck Village Center would desecrate a Native American burial ground.  

Early in the 20th Century, the Pearl Brewery in San Antonio was the largest in Texas, and it continued to be a renowned site in the city until brewing operations were shut down in the 1980s. It remained vacant until Rio Perla purchased it in 2001 and set about transforming it into the Pearl Brewery/Full Goods Warehouse, a 26-acre mix of residences, retail, offices, and gathering places.   

Phase one of a $15 million redevelopment of a 304,755-sq.-ft. neighborhood center in Inglewood, California, has been completed, according to owner NewMark Merrill.   Initial improvements at Crenshaw Imperial Plaza focused on remodeling the DD’s Discounts and 99 Cents Only stores. In Phase 2, a two-story building will be demolished to make room for a Planet Fitness and a 14,215-sq.-ft. retail building. A 15,000-sq.-ft. Mission View Charter School will also be part of the new mix in the center, which NewMark Merrill purchased in 2015.

The comeback of downtown Detroit, led by the expansive District Detroit project under construction, was advanced this week with the opening of The Scott at Brush Park. The upscale, mixed-use development of Broder & Sachse Real Estate and Sachse Construction is located about eight blocks north of District Detroit on Woodward Avenue.   

Novus, the shoe retailer with 40 years’ experience and 60 stores in Puerto Rico, has opened its first stateside location at Florida’s Pembroke Lakes Mall.   “Novus is aware of the importance of the South Florida market and the large Puerto Rican population of more than 300,000 currently residing in the area that has a close identification with the brand,” said Grupo Novus Marketing Director Sandra Castellon of the brands first steps into the U.S. market.  

After nearly 50 years of ownership, the Carl M. Freeman Companies has sold the Cabin John Shopping Center and Mall in Potomac, Maryland, to Edens for $165 million.   Freeman parted with a property that it built in 1968 in order to amass capital for other projects, according to CEO Michelle Freeman, who assumed the helm of the company after her husband, Josh, perished in a helicopter crash.  

Lifescapes International, an architectural landscape company that’s responsible for outdoor displays such as the Rockefeller Center Promenade and the Bellagio water show, is testing the boundaries of indoor greenery in the Philippines.  

For more than half a century, Chain Store Age’s annual SPECS conference has delivered one of the retail industry’s most important and impactful events.        The 2017 event, to be held March 12-14 at the Gaylord Palms, Kissimmee, Florida, will cover a wide range of emerging and evolving issues, focusing on must-see innovations and essential information about trends, topics and technologies that will be impacting the industry for many years to come.