REAL ESTATE

Alaska Tale: Center renaissance obsoletes longtime tenant
When the Northern Lights Center in Anchorage, Alaska, was owned by folksy former governor Wally Hickel, things were good for Title Wave Books. The midtown neighborhood was in decline, rent was cheap, and husband-and-wife owners Julie Drake and Steve Lloyd were able to make a living from their low-margin inventory.
Retail market is hot in this city
The City of Brotherly Love is having a love affair with retail. A new report from Philadelphia’s City Center District reveals that 45 national retailers have helped fuel a $1 billion investment in city real estate during the last five years.

Customers can shop, dine and drink at new Barnes & Noble concept

Barnes & Noble is set to open its third location featuring the bookseller’s new concept, which combines a bookstore with a full-service restaurant and table service. The new store, at the Palladio of Broadstone in Folsom, California, features a 2,600-sq.-ft. Barnes & Noble Kitchen that has seating for 140, reported the Sacramento Bee.
Owners asks for tax to spruce up center

A mall owner in Springfield, Missouri, has asked the town council to declare the area surrounding his site blighted and charge a tax to go towards improvements to his property. Curtis Jared told town administrators that sprucing up his Brentwood Shopping Center would create more jobs and tax revenue, according to local radio station KTTS. He wants them to form a community improvement district allowing a one-cent increase in the local sales tax.
Makeup giant headed to the Big Apple

Move over Sephora, fast-growing Ulta Beauty is about to give you some competition. Ulta will open its first-ever outpost in Manhattan, on the city’s tony Upper East Side. The retailer leased a 12,000-sq.ft. space on the ground floor of 184 E. 86th St., Commercial Observer reported, with Cushman & Wakefield brokering the deal with Ulta. A Sephora is located on the same block.
SJP by Sarah Jessica Parker makes retail debut

The first standalone store dedicated to actress Sarah Jessica Parker’s branded collection of shoes and accessories.
Georgia town mulls ideas to aid failing centers

Town administrators in Newnan, Georgia, have proposed offering incentives to owners of local shopping centers to re-invigorate them. Municipal staff this week invited a group of community leaders to brainstorm about what could be done with the number of dilapidated centers in Newnan. Obstacles preventing owners from re-investing, the group said, included lack of cash flow, fear of selling due to capital gains taxes, and a reluctance to invest until neighboring properties improved.
Sears Hometown opens inside Heritage Ace Hardware

Among the retail strategies employed by Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores to turn around its business, the store-within-a-store concept might rank as the most inventive. Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores have been cropping up inside existing Ace locations around the country (and in some cases, built from the ground up as a combo store). The latest example of this is taking place in Santa Paula, California, inside the Heritage Ace Hardware located at 568 Suite C West Main Street.
Starbucks to nearly double store count by 2021; two new formats in works

Starbucks Corp. unveiled an ambitious five-year strategy that calls for major expansion, includes two new store formats, including freestanding bakeries. The coffee giant said it plans to plans to open approximately 12,000 new stores globally by 2021, including 5,000 cafes in China. The new round of expansion would bring Starbucks’s total store portfolio to approximately 37,000 locations.
Will West Coast Retailer Migration Continue as Northeast Rents Rise?

When the nation’s retail industry recently congregated in New York City for ICSC’s National Deal Making conference, much of the discussion centered on the evolving mindset of consumers throughout the country. For retail real estate professionals in the Northeast, this conversation is vital.