Real Estate Roundup: December update
December had its fair share of retail real estate development news, tenant updates, property acquisitions and more to close out 2025.
Here are some of the biggest real estate news stories from the month (starting with the most recent).
NYT: Sears facing its final days In a piece titled “Why Sears’s Last Great Hope Was a Promise That Never Materialized,” the New York Times reported that Seritage Growth Properties — the real estate investment trust founded by Edward Lampert to derive value from of Sears’s vast retail real estate holdings — is offloading the last of its assets to pay down a $1.6 billion term loan from Berkshire Hathaway.
ICSC: Shoppers to flock to physical stores in final days before Christmas Nearly all (82%) consumers (approximately 238 million U.S. adults) were planning to shop at stores in the final days before Dec. 25, according to a recent report from ICSC. On Super Saturday (the last Saturday before Christmas) alone, 76% of adults (203 million people) planned to shop.
Mall of America welcomes slate of new tenants Mall of America’s newest tenants include specialty retailers, apparel brands and more, with restaurants and other new chains slated to open in the new year. New arrivals include Pop Mart, CardVault by Tom Brady, Skims, Mango, Miniso and more.
Chain retailers continued decreasing NYC store presence in 2025 The total number of chain stores across New York City fell for the sixth time in the past eight years in 2025, declining 1.3% citywide, according to the 18th annual State of the Chains report from nonprofit organization Center for an Urban Future. This decrease amounts to a net loss of 112 stores since 2024.
CoStar: Sunbelt cities named top-performing retail markets of 2025 Among the top 43 U.S. retail markets with at least 100 million sq. ft. of retail real estate inventory, Charlotte, N.C. ranked first, outperforming all other markets when looking at asking rent growth (7.4%) and total return (11.6%), according to recent data from CoStar Group. The Queen City was followed by Tampa, Fla., Orlando, Fla., Dallas and Norfolk, Va. in the rankings.
- Big V acquires 'value-oriented' Houston area center In its a joint venture with Principal Asset Management, the North Carolina-based real estate firm has acquired Fairfield Town Center in the Houston suburb of Cypress. The 355,000-sq.-ft., “value-oriented” property is 99.5% occupied, with tenants including Burlington, Kohl’s, Ross, Marshalls, Old Navy and more.
Placer.ai: Starbucks, Dunkin' visits rise in Q3 Both Starbucks and Dunkin’ outperformed their 2024 traffic levels in the third quarter of 2025, according to data from retail analytics firm Placer.ai. Starbucks visits rose 0.7% year over year in the third quarter, following slight declines in the first (-1.0%) and second (-0.2%) quarters. Dunkin’ showed a similar trajectory, rebounding from a 1.8% drop in the first quarter to a 1.7% increase in both the second and third quarters.
Batteries Plus ends 2025 with 30 new store openings The specialty retailer signed 24 franchise deals totaling 63 new units this year, while expanding into new territories across 13 states with 30 newly-opened stores. Batteries Plus also reached a key milestone in 2025 by establishing a retail presence in all 50 U.S. states. The company now has more than 800 locations open and in development.
Mango continues U.S. expansion; enters new state The Barcelona-based global fashion retailer has opened its 60th U.S. location with a new store on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile — its first store in Illinois. Mango's ambitious U.S. expansion plan includes opening more than 20 stores in the country this year, resulting in about 65 company-owned stores by the end of 2025.
Korean beauty retailer Sukoshi ramps up U.S. expansion — here’s where In what it called its most significant U.S expansion to date, the Korean beauty retailer is on track to open five stores at malls across the country. By the end of 2026, Sukoshi is targeting more than 40 U.S. locations. Key openings include stores at Lenox Mall, Aventura Mall and King of Prussia Mall.
Oklahoma City’s Oak mixed-use center files suit against Simon Oklahoma City-based Veritas Development has filed a lawsuit against Simon Property Group for anticompetitive conduct, violations of the Sherman Act, and tortious interference. The suit contends that Simon is leveraging its national portfolio of properties to force certain tenants away from the 20-acre Oak mixed-use property.
Advance Auto Parts puts 83 properties on the market Advance Auto Parts — which operates more than 4,000 centers in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands — is parting with 83 of them. The company has retained Gordon Brothers to dispose of the owned and leased sites, which span 38 states. The available spaces range in size from 4,000 to 16,000 square feet.
- Angry Chickz plans Texas, New Mexico expansion — here's where The California-based Nashville hot chicken franchise will open 25 new locations in Texas and New Mexico over the next five years. The expansion will span 11 new markets, including the Dallas–Fort Worth and Austin areas, western Texas, and Albuquerque.
