REAL ESTATE

Duluth, Minn. – Specialty young women’s apparel store Maurices plans to open 15 new stores, including seven grand openings and eight reopenings, through the middle of July. The new stores include:

Grand Openings:
June 27: Lufkin, Texas at Lufkin Mall and Greensburg, Indiana, at Greensburg Crossing.
July 4: Aurora, Colorado, at The Gardens on Havana.
July 5: Hoffman Estates, Illinois, at Poplar Creek Crossing.

Toronto - Slate Retail REIT has entered into a binding agreement to purchase North Summit Square, a 99% occupied, 224,530-sq.-ft. grocery-anchored shopping center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for $15.8 million. The property is anchored by Sam's Club.

"We are very excited to announce our first acquisition since listing on the TSX," said Blair Welch, CEO of Slate Retail. "We see several further opportunities to make accretive acquisitions of grocery-anchored centers in attractive markets."

Philadelphia — Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust has executed leases with Retail Group of America to bring three international brands F&F, Flormar and SuiteBlanco to the Patrick Henry Mall in Newport News, Virginia. The transactions illustrate PREIT’s strategy for improving portfolio performance by seeking out emerging, first-to-market options.

Indianapolis — Simon Property Group has announced that Andrew Juster, a 25-year Simon veteran, will move up to the post of CFO in early 2015, succeeding retiring CFO Stephen E. Sterrett. Juster has served as Simon’s treasurer since 2000, managing the company’s capital market activities, implementing its corporate financing strategy, maintaining banking and lending relationships, leading the treasury function and managing Simon’s relationships with rating agencies.

Believe it or not (and I can barely believe it myself), the critical back-to-school period at the end of summer is right around the corner. While back-to-school is always big for retailers, this year’s period could be an especially important one, as 2014 has been underwhelming so far.

Youngstown, Ohio — Chipotle Mexican Grill will debut at the Ohio Valley Mall in St. Clairsville, Ohio, in November. It will be the first Chipotle in the Ohio Valley region. The restaurant’s 2,195-sq.-ft. space is in a building currently undergoing renovation. Two other new merchants, to be announced in the near future, will join Chipotle in the building.

Cafaro affiliated companies own and manage the recently renovated Ohio Valley Mall.

New York - A series of new concept Juicy Couture stores will be opened in the U.S. and Canada beginning in 2015. The new stores will be in key, high traffic locations such as New York City, Los Angeles and Vancouver, and will replace existing Juicy Couture stores in the U.S.

▲ Understand the assets covered by your leases: Taken together, leases are more than just one of a chain’s largest costs — they are the largest fixed expense, and they are fixed for the long term. As a rule, individual leases average seven to 10 years.

“Understanding that is critical,” said Michael P. Glimcher, chairman and CEO, Glimcher Realty Trust, Columbus, Ohio.