REAL ESTATE

Dublin, Calif. -- dd’s Discounts, a division of Ross Stores, Inc., will open a new store in north Jacksonville, Florida.  The opening is slated for Feb. 28.

The new store is located in Highland Square at Dunn Avenue and Monaco Drive off Interstate 95. Florida is the retailer’s third largest state with a total of 25 stores. Including this new location, dd’s Discounts will operate over 150 locations in 15 states.
 

Austin, Texas -- Retail Properties of America, Inc., closed on the acquisition of Cedar Park Town Center, a 181,000-sq.-ft. community center located in Cedar Park, an Austin, Texas submarket. The purchase price was $39.1 million.

The property is situated at the intersection of two major freeways, with visibility and access to more than 73,000 vehicles per day. Cedar Park is shadow-anchored by Costco and is 94.5% occupied and leased to a lineup of national and regional tenants, including At Home, Chipotle, BJ’s Brewhouse and In-N-Out Burger.

Lakeland, Fla. -- Retail Solutions Advisors (RSA) has been selected as the exclusive leasing representative for Crosswinds, a 139,037-sq.-ft. community shopping center near Tyrone Square Mall in St. Petersburg, Florida.  

Current anchors include Marshall’s, Michael’s and Bed Bath and Beyond.
 
The property is owned by Crosswinds St Pete, LLC, who will continue to manage the center.

Pleasant Prairie, Wis. -- Mid-America Real Estate Corporation’s Investment Sales team recently brokered the sale of The Plaza at Prairie Ridge located in Pleasant Prairie (Kenosha County), Wisconsin. The 9,035-sq.-ft. three-tenant center was purchased by Mark Cosenza, VP of Oak Brook, Illinois-based Inland Real Estate Acquisitions, Inc. The seller was Milwaukee-based Evo Properties, LLC.
 

Cranberry Township, Pa. -- Teen retailer rue21 announced the opening of its flagship, which is located less than one mile from its corporate office. The 8,000-sq.-ft. store includes apparel and accessories for both girls and guys as well as the chain’s newest and fastest-growing division, rue+ plus sizes. The merchandise mix also features fragrance, beauty and room decor.

Brentwood, Tenn. - Tractor Supply Company has increased its domestic store growth target to 2,500 stores from 2,100 stores and its long-term operating margin target to 11.5% from 10.5%. The company is basing this enhanced guidance on the positive effects of key sales and gross margin initiatives, along with ongoing system enhancements such as demand planning, inventory allocation, and price optimization

Toronto -- Canadian retail giant Hudson’s Bay Co. (HBC) has entered into two blockbuster deals, forming joint ventures with Simon Property Group and Canada’s RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust to target real estate growth opportunities in the United States and Canada. Both ventures are structured to facilitate an IPO at a later date.

The partnerships, which combined are valued at about $3.4 billion at the current exchange, are the latest example of retail companies moving to leverage their valuable real estate assets.

If we wanted to show the struggles of the classic American mall, I don’t think we could come up with a better example than Northland Mall in Southfield, Michigan. When it opened in 1954, Northland was an instant hit: an icon not only for the region, but for the nation. One of the first and largest open air centers in the nation, Northland was enclosed in 1974 and today boasts space for 96 stores and nearly 1.5 million sq. ft. of retail.