Restaurant

Seattle -- Starbucks Corp. announced it has acquired full ownership of Starbucks stores in the China provinces of Guangdong, Hainan, Sichuan, Shaanxi and Hubei in an agreement with Maxim’s Caterers Ltd., the coffee company’s joint-venture partner. As a result, Starbucks said now has full control of more than half of the Starbucks retail stores in Mainland China as it looks to accelerate growth in the future.

White Plains, N.Y. -- SRS Real Estate Partners announced Tuesday that Dick’s Sporting Goods has leased 58,750 sq. ft. at “The Source” in White Plains, N.Y.

The Dick’s Sporting Goods lease represents the first step of the redevelopment of the former Fortunoff store, directly adjacent to The Westchester Mall. “The Source” is also occupied by Whole Foods Market, The Cheesecake Factory, Morton’s, Destination Maternity and a planned Raymour & Flanigan.

The new store opened in April.

Minneapolis — Mill Valley Kitchen, a new restaurant concept from former Excel Bank CEO, Craig Bentdahl, is opening on Tuesday, June 7, in the Ellipse on Excelsior development in St. Louis Park, Minneapolis. 

The design of the 5,000-sq.-ft., farm-to-table restaurant was handled by Minneapolis based design firm, Shea Inc. 

Eden Prairie, Minn. — McAlister’s Corp., a quick-casual restaurant chain with more than McAlister’s Deli locations across the United States, has chosen WAND Corp. to provide an enterprise level digital menu board solution for all McAlister’s Deli corporate and franchise digital sites. The project promises to be one of the largest U.S. deployments of digital menu boards to date.

Loveland, Colo. — McWhinney Enterprises announced that its Marketplace at Centerra power center in Loveland, Colo., will see the addition of Menchie’s and Buffalo Wild Wings this year.

Menchie’s is slated to open a new frozen yogurt shop at the end of May, and Buffalo Wild Wings has begun remodeling a former Black Eye Pea restaurant space with an anticipated opening date of August. 

Yonkers, N.Y.  — Forest City Enterprises announced that National Amusements’ Cinema de Lux has opened at its Westchester’s Ridge Hill mixed-use development in Yonkers, N.Y.

With 12 state-of-the-art auditoriums and wall-to-wall screens, Cinema de Lux also features the area’s first full-service restaurant, Studio 3. The opening comes just a few months before the first buyers prepare to move into their new homes at Monarch at Ridge Hill, the luxury condominium on Ridge Hill Boulevard. 

Final attendance numbers aren’t available yet, and while RECon 2011 may not have been the really, really big show it was in 2007, the International Council of Shopping Centers’ annual Las Vegas convention was clearly a big event.

Pre-recession, the show attracted in excess of 50,000 retailers, retail service providers and shopping center executives to view the latest and greatest projects coming out of the ground. This year’s May 23 to 25 iteration didn’t pull 50k, but best guesses put attendance at over 30,000. 

Fort Worth, Texas -- Chicago-based General Growth Properties announced that Hulen Mall, in Fort Worth, Texas, will undergo a major interior facelift and renovation beginning Monday, May 23.