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Retail real estate developers and management companies are coming away from this week’s New York Deal Making show more optimistic than they’ve been in years.   “There’s some uncertainty following the election, but the stock market is up, the holiday’s been strong, and consumer confidence is high,” said CBL CEO Stephen Lebovitz at the International Council of Shopping Centers show, whose aisles were crammed with some 10,000 attendees.  

An end-to-end e-commerce solution now enables Rent-A-Center visitors to shop online from their desktop, laptop, or mobile device.   Rent-A-Center’s new platform enables guests to choose from more than 73 available products, primarily consumer electronics. The new solution also gives shoppers the option to complete an online form to obtain pre-approval to rent from within one of Rent-A-Center’s approximately 2,600 store locations.   

A subsidiary of NewMark Merrill Companies has acquired Southgate Plaza in Sacramento five years after it was hired by the owner to re-tenant and reposition the center.   The 339,369-sq.-ft. Southgate has the distinction of being anchored by three grocery stores — Walmart Neighborhood Market, 99 Ranch Market, and 99 Cents Only. Other tenants include Ross Dress for Less, Skechers, Payless Shoe Source, Farmer & Merchants Bank, and Taco Bell.  

Coop Italia, Italy’s largest supermarket chain, is looking to reinvent the customer experience in grocery shopping.    In collaboration with Accenture, the retailer has opened a flagship in Milan that merges the physical and digital to recreate the atmosphere of local open-air markets. Billed as the “supermarket of the future,” the store uses innovative digital solutions that provide product information, improve store navigation and engage customers.      

Fort Worth-based Trademark Property Co. is making a move to more data-driven marketing efforts with the hiring of Jency Keeton as director of corporate marketing.   As digital brand manager for global marketing at Fossil, Keeton doubled the retailer’s social media audience and directed its website, email, blogging, and influencer programs. Her digital promotions, contests, and user-generated content programs were deployed in stores and all other customer touch-points.  

Olshan Properties will pay tribute to the new president-elect and fellow developer Donald Trump at the International Council of Shopping Centers New York Deal Making show, which kicks off at the Javits Center on Monday.   Staffers at the Olshan booth will be sporting blue “Make Retail Great Again” baseball caps as they promote a message, said a release, of elevating retail to bring local communities together by connecting with their hometown shopping centers.  

Adam Cummings, an 18-year veteran of retail leasing, has been named senior VP and retail occupier practice leader at CBRE. Cummings will direct retail representation in the mall sector.   The company also announced the return of Matt Kircher as managing director and executive VP of its San Francisco office. Kircher began his real estate caeer at CBRE in the 1990s.  

University Towne Center in Gainesville, Florida, has been sold at auction to Pacific West Land for $2.8 million. Crossman & Company negotiated the deal on behalf of the seller, a south Florida special servicer.   The 18,496-sq.-ft. center is close to the University of Florida campus and to Butler’s sprawling retail complex, which is itself expanding with a town center called The Neighborhoods at Butler.