REAL ESTATE

Sears store opens in an Ace Hardware
So far this year, four Sears Hometown Stores have opened around the country. Of particular interest is the opening in Selma, California -- inside a hardware store.

On Jan. 28, California Sears Hometown Store opened inside the Nelson Ace Hardware store in Selma.
Publix-anchored retail center in suburban Atlanta trades for $13 million
Woodstock, Ga. -- Transwestern’s Southeast Investment Services Group announced it brokered the disposition of East Cherokee Village Shoppes for $13 million. New Orleans-based PMAT Cos. acquired the 128,667-sq. ft., Publix-anchored shopping center is located in Woodstock, Georgia. Transwestern VP Fred Victor and managing director Kevin Markwordt represented the private seller.

SRS Real Estate Partners hires senior VP to Houston Office

Houston -- SRS Real Estate Partners welcomes Jonathan Hicks as SVP and co-market leader in the Houston office. Hicks will lead the Houston office alongside team member, Cody Persyn.

"The addition of Jonathan to our Houston office complements our existing business immensely," said Woody McMinn, president of North American brokerage. "Cody's depth and tenure at SRS, and around the country, joined with Jonathan's market contacts and local industry involvement, are going to make a great market leader team."
Metro Commercial Negotiates Sale of Home Depot Plaza

Upper Darby, Pa. -- Metro Commercial Real Estate announced that is has negotiated the sale of the 307,000-sq.-ft. Home Depot Plaza in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania.

The purchaser, a life insurance company, values the long-term nature of the anchor leases, Home Depot and Acme, and the population density of the area.
Forest City closes sale of equity interest in Barclays Center, Brooklyn Nets

Cleveland -- Forest City Realty Trust announced that its subsidiary, Nets Sports and Entertainment has completed the previously announced sale of its equity interests in both the Barclays Center arena and the Brooklyn Nets basketball team to Onexim Sports and Entertainment Holding USA. As previously disclosed, the transaction values the team at approximately $875 million and the arena at $825 million, inclusive of debt for each asset.
Watch out Black Friday, Year of the Monkey is here

Retailers are always looking for new promotional opportunities and with the arrival on the Lunar New Year a mall operator in upstate New York hopes to generate shopper traffic with a range of Chinese-inspired activities.
'Disneyland of supermarkets' to open another N.Y. store

Popular Northeast grocer Stew Leonard's is planning to open a 70,000-sq.-ft. store in Long Island this year.

Construction on the new store will start this summer with an anticipated opening date of mid-2017, the company said. Earlier this month, Stew Leonard’s opened its first Long Island store in Farmingdale’s Airport Plaza on Route 110.

The family-owned and operated grocery chain was founded as a dairy store in 1969 in Norwalk, Conn.
Nordstrom to open second, smaller store in Manhattan

Nordstrom isn't satisfied with just one location in the Big Apple.
Convenience stores keep advancing

Despite plummeting fuel prices, the ranks of convenience stores swelled to a record level last year.

The U.S. convenience store count increased to 154,195 stores as of Dec. 31, a 0.9% increase (1,401 stores) from the year prior, according to the 2016 NACS/Nielsen Convenience Industry Store Count.
Chef Christian Petroni to bring renowned Italian restaurant to Downtown Brooklyn

Brooklyn, N.Y. -- Acadia Realty Trust and Washington Square Partners, co-developers of City Point, announced that Fortina, the Italian restaurant of chef, Christian Petroni, signed a 15-year, 4,612-sq. ft. lease, at the 1.8 million-sq. ft. mixed-use project in Downtown Brooklyn, New York.