REAL ESTATE

Atlanta -- GBT Realty Corporation acquired a 1.7-acre site in East Cobb County, Atlanta, at the intersection of Roswell Road and East Cobb Drive near Johnson Ferry Road. Currently the site of a 10,240-sq.-ft. building occupied by Chuck E. Cheese’s, the firm plans to redevelop the parcel with demolition slated this spring.  

GBT acquired the site from Empress Theatres for $1.65 million. No additional terms were disclosed.

San Juan -- The Mall of San Juan, the first upscale shopping center in Puerto Rico, officially opened its doors on March 26. The 650,000-sq.-ft. shopping center, developed through a partnership between Taubman and New Century Development, has a retail line-up includes the Caribbean's only Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue. Sixty percent of the tenants are unique to the market.

New York -- RKF has arranged a 1,560-sq.-ft. lease with international high-end fashion retailer IRO at 241 Columbus Avenue on the Upper West Side in New York City. This will be the second Manhattan store for the French apparel brand, known for its mixing of luxury fabrics with casual street style.

The transaction was arranged by RKF’s executive VP Joshua Strauss and associate Taryn Talmadge, who represented IRO, while the building ownership was represented by RKF executive VP Ariel Schuster and managing director Brandon Eisenman.

Nashville, Tenn. -- JLL announced the firm has been retained to manage One Hundred Oaks located in Nashville, Tennessee, on behalf of LaSalle Investment Management. The nearly 1 million-sq.-ft. medical mixed-use property sits on 54 acres, half of which houses the Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

The property’s retail tenant mix includes national, regional and local retailers, and is anchored by Regal Theatres, Burlington Coat Factory, Ross, TJ Maxx, Petsmart and Michaels.

Mobile, Ala. -- JLL announced the expansion of its platform in Alabama with the addition of Shannon Tyndall and Allen Garstecki. Tyndall and Garstecki join JLL as VPs, and bring more than 20 years of combined experience to the firm. They will be based in the firm’s Mobile office, bolstering the existing practice that JLL built last year when it added Gulf Coast Retail Brokerage lead Josh Burmeister and VP Buff Teague.

The team provides retail and office expertise throughout Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and the Florida Panhandle.

By Neil Axler

“You can’t get your nails done online, you can’t get dry cleaning done online and you can’t eat the Internet.” These are the dominant themes from retail clients (property owners) over the last few years. Today’s shopping center acquirers are looking for “necessity centers” with a stable rent roll. These centers consist of restaurants, nail salons and other destination retail that is not competing with e-commerce.

New York -- Thor Equities has signed a contract to acquire a prime retail and office property at 102 Avenue des Champs-Elysees in Paris. “102 Avenue des Champs-Elysees is at the center of one of the most desirable locations in the world, just blocks from the Arc de Triomphe and Place Charles de Gaulle,” said Joseph Sitt, CEO of Thor Equities.  “We continue to believe strongly in the Paris retail market, in particular prime shopping and tourist destinations such as the Champs-Elysees and Boulevard Haussmann.”
 

New York  -- Ikea will open its largest U.S. store on a 22-acre site in Burbank, California. As the first step in the construction process, the retailer must demolish 19 existing structures on the site. The new 456,000-sq.-ft. store is slated to open in spring 2017.

Reflecting the company’s commitment to sustainability, Ikea plans to recycle, repurpose or salvage as much of the existing buildings’ equipment, materials, and parts as possible.