Retail

Cincinnati — Phillips Edison-ARC Grocery Center REIT II has acquired its first grocery-anchored shopping center — the 81,674-sq.-ft. Bethany Village in Alpharetta, Ga., an affluent suburb of Atlanta.

A 51,674-sq.-ft. Publix anchors the center. Publix is the number one grocer by market share in the Atlanta metropolitan statistical area. Other national tenants at Bethany Village include Marco’s Pizza, Subway and Workout Anytime.

Ikea wants to expand the warehouse of its Detroit-area store in Canton, Mich. As a result, Ikea Canton, which opened June 2006 at 311,000 sq. ft., would grow to approximately 355,000 sq. ft. Initial utility work would begin this summer with actual construction starting in autumn. The store would remain open and operational during construction, maintaining its full product offering throughout the project’s completion in spring 2015.

Dallas — SRS real Estate Partners has appointed Adam Baxter as first VP in the Birmingham office. He will focus on tenant and landlord representation in the Birmingham market.

Dallas — CBRE’s Private Capital Group has announced the sale of Josey Rosemeade Shopping Center, an unanchored strip center in Carrollton, Texas.

Located just northwest of the Dallas/Fort Worth metro area in an affluent, densely populated area, the 14,500-sq.-ft. center received more than 20 offers.

Tiffany & Co. has appointed Ralph Nicoletti as its next EVP and CFO, effective April 2. He steps into the CFO role following current chief operating officer and CFO James N. Fernandez’s plans to retire in July.

Nicoletti will be based in New York and responsible for the company’s worldwide financial functions and information technology. He will report to chairman and CEO Michael J. Kowalski

Katy, Texas -- Sporting goods retailer Academy Sports + Outdoors will continue its Midwestern expansion push with plans to open four new stores across Indiana and Kentucky later this fall.
 
The first two locations — Evansville, Ind., and Owensboro, Ky. — will mark Academy's entry into both states followed by the opening of stores in Louisville and Middletown, Ky., prior to the holidays.

Fremont, Calif. -- Men's Wearhouse is launching its omni-channel inventory program, which gives customers visibility and access to all merchandise within the company's distribution center and its 900-plus retail locations from one location. Now, regardless of whether a customer is shopping in a single store or online, they can see all merchandise available to them throughout the company and pick up any item at the store of their choosing.

New York -- As part of minority eBay shareholder Carl Icahn’s ongoing battle to separate eBay from sister company PayPal, the activist investor on Wednesday urged fellow eBay shareholders in an open letter to sell 20% of its PayPal unit in an IPO.

The latest move, which Icahn said would prompt a stand-alone PayPal while preserving the synergies between the pair of companies, is softer than Icahn’s January announcement that he wanted a full spinoff of PayPal from eBay.