Restaurant

Voorhees, N.J. -- Philadelphia-based Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust announced Monday that Voorhees Town Hall has opened at the mixed-use Voorhees Town Center, located in Voorhees, N.J.

On Monday, more than 50 Voorhees Township employees moved in to the new municipal office, which is located on the upper level of the mall across from Macy’s and also features a street-level entrance.

Houston -- Jacksonville, Fla.-based Regency Centers said it has leased space to two new restaurants in Houston at Fort Bend Center.

Baskin Robbins has leased 1,280 sq. ft., and The Fish Place has leased 1,380 sq. ft. of space. Both restaurants are slated to open in July.

The 97,000-sq.-ft. shopping center is anchored by Kroger alongside national retailers such as LA Fitness, Starbucks, Wendy’s, and Cato.
 

Dallas -- Lucernex Technologies said Tuesday that Jack in the Box has implemented Lucernex’s store lifecycle management solution to manage its real estate portfolio, which includes more than 2,200 Jack in the Box restaurants across 19 states.

According to Lucernex, by implementing the retail version of the Lx Retail product suite, Jack in the Box can streamline its process of selecting store sites, building and opening new store locations, as well as managing existing locations to avoid time delays and save costs.

Gadsden, Ala. -- Philadelphia-based Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust said that The Children’s Place is set to open a new location at Gadsden Mall in May.

The nearly 3,000-sq.-ft. retailer will be located next to Kay Jewelers, and will be the retailer’s first in the region.

New York City -- Winick Realty Group announced that Island Burgers & Shakes, the 15-year-old burger restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen, has signed a lease for its second Manhattan location at 422 Amsterdam Avenue, between 80th and 81st Streets on the Upper West Side.

Island Burgers & Shakes will occupy 700 sq. ft. of ground-floor space, as well as a 500-sq.-ft. basement, when it opens later this year.
 

Fort Worth, Texas -- Trademark Property Co. said it is relaunching its WestBend mixed-use development in Fort Worth, Texas.

The move comes after strategically halting construction in fall of 2008 to wait for a recovery in the retail market. The first order of business will be the completion of the seven-level garage providing 798 parking spaces to serve the existing office buildings and restaurants. Additional new retail construction is slated to begin in mid-2012 with a grand opening projected for late 2013.

Houston -- The Vista Cos. and Vista Spring Green, Ltd. announced that McDonald's USA has signed a 56,000-sq.-ft. ground lease at The Plazas at Spring Green.

Construction on a new 4,800-sq.-ft. McDonald’s restaurant will begin in the coming weeks and is set to open in November.

The Plazas at Spring Green, a Vista Equities Group development, is located in Katy, Texas.

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz told Britain’s Sky.com that the chain’s focus on improving its offerings and encouraging innovation as opposed to cost-cutting and store-closings are the reasons for its turnaround.

“You can’t “cut your way to prosperity,” Schultz said. “You have to create growth and opportunity.”