Hospitality

Seattle -- Starbucks Coffee Company will enter the country of Columbia, opening a store in the first half of 2014 in Bogota. It will be operated through a joint venture between the company's Latin American franchisee, Alsea, and the food company Grupo Nutresa.

Starbucks said it has "aggressive plans" to open locations in Bogota and other major cities throughout Colombia over the next five years.

Charlotte, N.C. — Divaris Real Estate has arranged two leases totaling approximately 9,000 sq. ft. of retail space at the Westfield Eastridge Mall in Gastonia, N.C. Divaris represented the landlord, WEA Eastridge LP.

Los Arcos, a family owned Mexican restaurant, leased a 6,183-sq.-ft. outparcel building. Creations, a gift card shop, renewed its lease for 2,669 sq. ft.

Belk, J.C. Penney, Sears and Dillard’s anchor the mall, which is leased exclusively by Divaris.

Youngstown, Ohio — Ohio Valley Mall in St. Clairsville, Ohio, has leased space to three new retailers: Panda, Boscov’s and The Children’s Place.

Panda will arrive in November with its Asian fusion menu, taking 1,500 sq. ft. Boscov’s department store will open its doors in October. So will The Children’s Place, which has leased 4,000 sq. ft.

The recently renovated Ohio Valley Mall is owned and managed in association with Cafaro affiliated companies.

Sweet! Hollywood, at the Hollywood & Highland Center, in Hollywood, Calif., is sure to appeal to anyone in need of a sugar rush. The candy megastore features more than 200 types of gummy candies, 140 flavors of chewing gum, 250 types of lollipops, 300 different chocolate bars and more.

Riverside, Calif. — University Village Shopping Center in Riverside, Calif., has inked five-year leases with three new tenants, according to NewMark Merrill Companies.

• Amazon Toner, which refills ink and toner cartridges for 30% to 50% below retail, has taken 1,355 sq. ft.
• House of Beauty has leased 1,866 sq. ft.
• UC Bakery has signed a five-year lease for 1,433 sq. ft.

University Center is a 178,020-sq.-ft. outdoor community center anchored by Regency Theatres.

Columbia, Md. -- Micros Systems announced that Sonic Corp., the nation's largest chain of drive-in restaurants with over 3,500 locations, has selected Micros as its strategic enterprise solution partner.  

New York — Noble Roman’s, the franchisor of Nobel Roman’s Pizza and Tuscano’s Italian Style Subs, has announced signed agreements for eight more stand-alone locations, brining the total of signed locations to 29.

To date, eight locations are open and 21 are under development.

Lafayette, La. — Hungry Howie’s has opened a new pizza shop in Lafayette, La., near the University of Louisiana campus.

It is the third store for the young franchise. The other two stores are in nearby Baton Rouge.