REAL ESTATE

Rudolph E. Milian, former senior staff VP of the International Council of Shopping Centers and a leading retail real estate development executive, has launched Woodcliff Realty Advisors LLC, a full-service management consultancy that brings together an elite group of retail and real estate professionals and experts to serve shopping center companies, retailers, commercial real estate organizations, communities and investors worldwide.

Los Angeles -- CBRE Group announced that it has been ranked among Fortune’s Most Admired Companies in the real estate industry for the fourth consecutive year.

Fortune rates companies on attributes related to corporate performance. In the 2016 program, CBRE was the top-rated real estate firm for people management and also scored notably well on quality of services, quality of management, financial soundness and innovation. Overall CBRE achieved a score of 6.69, up from 6.23 in 2015.

Boise, Idaho-based discount grocer WinCo Foods will develop a new ground-up 82,077-sq.-ft. anchor store at Trinity Valley Shopping Center in Carrollton, Texas.

The new WinCo will be developed at the site of a former Target anchor store at the center. Following the closure, the ownership of the center, Josey Trinity Mills Ltd., acquired the vacant building in October 2015. The site will be demolished starting around April 2016, and the newly developed WinCo is scheduled to open in early 2017.

Two of the nation’s leading retail companies, Target and Under Armour, are on board to offer dynamic presentations at the upcoming SPECS conference in Dallas.

Go behind-the-scenes with Target as the retailer reviews its new Open House concept, and details how a decidedly non-conventional retail space has upped the innovation ante while also providing a testing ground for future in-store innovations on a broader scale.

The combination of 80 new stores and a 20% increase in e-commerce is expected to drive double digit growth of VF corp.’s business in 2016.

Los Angeles -- CBRE Group announced that Mark Hunter has joined the company as managing director of retail asset services, the Americas. Hunter will assist CBRE in expanding its industry services for third party management of retail properties further into the mall sector. He will lead CBRE’s offering of services such as asset management, leasing, accounting, consumer marketing and development for malls generally exceeding 500,000 sq. ft.

Oklahoma City -- GBT Realty Corp. announced the acquisition of 30 acres in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The site was purchased in January for $2.95 million. The company broke ground on development of the first phase of the $50 million The Market at Czech Hall, a 450,000-sq. ft. regional neighborhood center last week.

Phase one includes the construction of 180,000-sq. ft. of retail, along with seven outparcels. The first tenant expected to open fall 2016.

The commercial real estate community is somewhat of a paradox. For an industry that is literally built on the premise of creating new and exciting destinations, there is a tendency to do things the way they have always been done.