Real Estate Roundup: October update
October had its fair share of retail real estate development news, tenant updates, property acquisitions and more.
Here are some of the biggest real estate news stories from the month (starting with the most recent).
- Spinoso to take over Dayton’s No. 1 mall Spinoso Real Estate Group and Kize Capital have acquired Fairfield Commons, the 1 million-sq.-ft. mall in Dayton, Ohio, with plans to re-energize the property and take it beyond its annual 5.3 million visit count. The mall is anchored by Dick’s House of Sport and JCPenney.
- Big V launches retail property fund The Charlotte, N.C.-based company, which owns, operates and develops shopping centers across the United States, has partnered with Equity Street Capital to launch the Big V Core Property Fund, a $1.2 billion open-ended retail real estate fund created by consolidating seven retail assets into a single investment trust. Located in high-traffic areas, the seven Big V centers are major shopping hubs for residents and visitors, with nearly 64.9 million total visits annually.
- Study: Spirit Halloween stores help boost community, power center visits A new report from retail intelligence firm Kalibrate reveals that Spirit Halloween and its over 1,500 seasonal pop-up stores have helped fuel a surge in retail visits. Community shopping centers benefit from a strong boost in foot traffic fueled by the launch of seasonal Spirit Halloween pop-up stores, with the strongest uplift occurring between Oct. 13 and Nov. 10 and peaking just before Halloween itself.
- Brooklyn’s largest mall announces six new tenants Urban Planet x Charlotte Russe has already opened its first Brooklyn store at Macerich’s Kings Plaza in the Mill Basin neighborhood. Also set to open at the 1 million-sq.-ft. mall before year’s end are Miniso and Little Tokyo with their first locations in the borough. Coach, Applebee’s, and PacSun will take residence at Kings Plaza in 2026.
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- Five Below to make Pacific Northwest debut — here are the locations The tween and teen extreme-value retailer will enter the Pacific Northwest, opening eight stores across Washington and Oregon in November. Five Below’s debut in the region comes as it is on track to open a total of 150 stores in 2025.
- Colliers: Retail vacancy rates ‘historically’ low; highest rent markets… Colliers’ latest Q3 2025 U.S. Retail Market Statistics report found that vacancy rates remain historically low, with strong absorption and constrained new supply supporting rent growth across much of the United States. The national vacancy rate remained steady at 4.3% in the third quarter, according to the report. Mall vacancies fell 30 basis points, while shopping center vacancies held steady.
- DLC takes a West Coast stand with 10-property acquisition The New York-based company acquired 10 shopping centers in Washington and California. DLC will take over leasing, property management, and construction management at this bundle of grocery-anchored centers acquired from Merlone Geier Partners.
- CVS finishes conversion of select former Rite Aid, Bartell Drugs stores CVS Pharmacy has completed its acquisition of select Rite Aid assets nationwide. In total, the company acquired — and is now operating — 63 former Rite Aid and Bartell Drugs stores in Idaho, Oregon and Washington. CVS also acquired the prescription files of 626 former Rite Aid and Bartell Drugs pharmacies in 15 states.
- Recently purchased Maryland mall to open 300,000 sq. ft. of new tenants New owners Atlas Hill RE and Centennial have wasted no time in their turnaround of Annapolis Mall, Maryland’s second largest. The two companies and their partners, Lincoln Property Company and Waterfall Asset Management, have announced the signing of 300,000 sq. ft. of new leases at the property that they acquired a year ago. Incoming tenants include Dick’s House of Sport, Uniqlo and Swarovski.
- Batteries Plus reaches 50-state milestone with planned Delaware openings With the signing on of two new locations in Dover and Millsboro, Del., the specialty battery retailer will soon officially be open in all 50 U.S. states. The milestone comes following a streak of strong growth for Batteries Plus, which signed deals for 20 new locations in the second quarter of 2025, and signed 17 new franchise agreements in the first quarter of the year.
- NYT: Walmart buys failing Pennsylvania mall to gain entry into new market According to a report from the New York Times, tenants of the 1.4 million-sq.-ft. Monroeville Mall have been told they have until April 2027 to vacate their spaces by Dallas-based Cypress Equities, which represented an anonymous new buyer in the acquisition of the property from CBL & Associates. That buyer turned out to be Walmart, which, in 2005, was denied a building permit in the town.
- Bed Bath & Beyond launching nationwide franchise program The company, which also owns Overstock, Buybuy Baby and a blockchain asset portfolio, said it plans to launch a national franchise system that will allow Bed Bath & Beyond to operate a smaller footprint of corporate stores nationwide along with a complementary franchise network. Franchise documentation is expected to be finalized within six months.
- Rite Aid is now dark — chainwide After decades in business and years of financial struggles, Rite Aid has closed all its remaining stores. The 63-year-old pharmacy retailer announced the news on its website with a simple statement: “All Rite Aid stores have now closed. We thank our loyal customers for their many years of support.” The company also noted on the site that customers can request their prescription and immunization records online.
