REAL ESTATE

Clinton Township, Mich. — The Mall at Partridge Creek, in the Detroit, metropolitan region, has named Melissa Morang marketing and sponsorship director. Morang will develop public programs, events and community relations for the center.

Morang returns to metro Detroit after spending the past year in the Grand Rapids area working in Meijer’s corporate office on marketing strategies for the retailers soft lines division.

New York — Steve Madden and Trebbianno have signed long-term leases totaling more than 60,000 sq. ft. at 19 West 34th Street, also known as the Martin Building, in New York City.

Steve Madden is taking the entire fifth floor and part of the fourth and eighth floors and will use approximately 40,000 sq. ft. of the 14-story building. The space will serve as one of Steve Madden’s corporate offices and showrooms.

New York — Wasabi, a London-based sushi and bento chain, has opened a two-floor 3,400-sq.-ft. store at 561 Seventh Avenue in New York City. Ripco Realty represented the landlord, Handler Real Estate Organization in the transaction. CWM represented the tenant.

The flagship space is Wasabi’s first branch in the United States. With 36 locations in the United Kingdom, the chain plans to expand throughout Manhattan over the next 18 months.

Seattle -- Nordstrom announced plans to open a Nordstrom Rack at Redfield Promenade in Reno, Nev.

The store is scheduled to open in spring 2015. Redfield Promenade is owned and operated by Kimco Realty Corp.
 
"We're thrilled to bring a Nordstrom Rack to the Reno community," said Geevy Thomas, president of Nordstrom Rack. "This central retail location at Redfield Promenade is a good fit for us and we look forward to offering customers access to fashion at great prices when we open our doors next year."

Dallas — SRS Real Estate Partners has appointed Matias Campins as director of research to the Dallas/Ft. Worth headquarters office. Campins will oversee the delivery of research services across the company and stay informed of research platform capabilities to ensure competitiveness within the retail industry.

New York — Retail developer Edens has selected four finalists for its annual Retail Challenge, a nation-wide student competition for the most compelling new retail concept. The announcement of the winner kicks off this year’s smART: The Art of Retail conference.

Both the Edens Retail Challenge and smART aspire to incubate new ideas, share knowledge and identify the next generation of industry thought leaders.

Chicago -- Fresh Thyme Farmers Markets, a new specialty grocer format featuring value-priced healthy and organic offerings, announced Wednesday that it plans to open over 60 stores and create approximately 5,000 new jobs throughout the Midwest over the next five years. The company's first store will open in Mt. Prospect, Ill., this spring, followed by eight more grand openings, spread out between Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, throughout the remainder of this year. The retailer will enter Michigan, Missouri, Wisconsin and Minnesota in 2015.

While we’re only just getting started on 2014, already one of the big retail stories is store closings. While the economy is far from robust, we aren’t in a recession either, and so at first these closings might seem a little surprising. I don’t see it that way, however: The recent spate of planned store closing for 2014 is exactly what we should expect from an industry in transition. It’s not a crisis, so much as it is a realignment.