SOUTH PLAINFIELD, N.J. — Americold Realty Trust (NYSE: COLD), an Atlanta-based cold storage REIT, has acquired Hall’s Warehouse Corp. of South Plainfield, New Jersey, in a transaction valued at $480 million. The Hall’s Warehouse portfolio consists of eight cold storage facilities totaling 58 million cubic feet and 200,000 pallet positions that are located throughout Northern New Jersey. The portfolio was approximately 95 percent leased at the time of sale. Americold, which also announced the development of an $84 million facility in Arkansas, now owns and operates 185 temperature-controlled warehouses with over 1 billion refrigerated cubic feet of storage throughout five countries.
NEWPORT BEACH, CALIF. — Chipotle Mexican Grill plans to launch a digital restaurant concept dubbed Chipotle Digital Kitchen. Customers will be required to order in advance via the Chipotle app, website or third-party delivery service; there will not be a dining area or line to order food. The Newport Beach-based restaurant chain says the footprint is designed for urban areas but will open its first location near West Point Academy in Highland Falls, New York, on Saturday, Nov. 14. The announcement of the restaurant opening comes on the heels of the company’s third-quarter earnings report, which showed Chipotle’s digital sales tripled year-over-year. Furthermore, online sales accounted for nearly half (48.8 percent) of total sales for the quarter, which ended Sept. 30.
DALLAS — Home goods discount retailer Tuesday Morning has entered into an agreement with Miami-based Rialto Capital to sell its Dallas headquarters building, located at 6250 LBJ Freeway, and three warehouses for $60 million. The deal comes several months after the Dallas-based retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing major financial losses stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. Tuesday Morning is also closing 230 stores, or roughly a third of its total inventory, across the country. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year.
AUSTIN, TEXAS — Weitzman has expanded its corporate services platform by launching a new branch in Austin that will focus on tenant solutions for office users in Austin and the surrounding Central Texas market. The new platform will offer services such as strategic planning and needs assessment, financial, market and labor analyses, lease restructuring, renewals, relocations, expansions, subleasing and disposition of excess space, acquisitions, dispositions and build-to-suits. Matt Epple, executive vice president and director of brokerage for Weitzman, will lead the new office. Weitzman’s office management portfolio in Texas currently spans more than 1 million square feet, including buildings in Austin such as downtown’s Scarbrough and Littlefield Buildings and the office tower at Capital Plaza.
WINSTON-SALEM AND GREENSBORO, N.C. — Cushman & Wakefield has acquired Triad Commercial Properties, a commercial real estate brokerage firm with offices in Winston-Salem and Greensboro. Hap Royster and Tom Townes founded Triad Commercial Properties in 1999. The firm has arranged sales in 39 states and 10 countries, having experience in areas such as tenant and landlord representation, property disposition, buyer representation, sale-leaseback transactions, portfolio review and analysis, market analysis and build-to-suit analysis in a brokerage and advisory role. Royster, who served as managing partner for the firm, will join Cushman & Wakefield as vice chairman. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
WOONSOCKET, RHODE ISLAND — CVS Health Corp. (NYSE: CVS) reported $67.1 billion in revenue for the third quarter, a 3.5 percent increase from that same period a year ago. The company cited the expansion of its healthcare services, particularly its doubling of its COVID-19 testing sites to more than 4,000 pharmacy locations nationwide, as a key driver of growth. According to CNBC, CVS surpassed analysts’ expectations of $66.6 billion in quarterly revenue, prompting the Woonsocket, Rhode Island-based chain to raise its 2020 earnings guidance. The stock price of CVS opened at $63.05 per share on Friday, Nov. 6, down from $69.43 per share a year ago.
WAYNE, PA. — Pet Valu Inc., a specialty retailer of pet food and supplies, has opted to wind down its U.S. operations. The retailer will close all 358 stores in the Midwest, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, as well as its warehouses and its U.S. headquarters office in Wayne. No timeline for closures was disclosed, but Pet Valu is currently doing final liquidation sales for all its merchandise. Additionally, the retailer is marketing all of its store fixtures, furniture and equipment for sale. Pet Valu Inc. licenses its name from Pet Valu Canada, which is a separate, unaffected entity that will retain its 600 Canadian stores and corporate headquarters office in Markham, Ontario, as well as its e-commerce site. Roark Capital, an Atlanta-based private equity group, purchased Pet Valu in 2009 and merged the retailer with Pet Supermarket in 2016 to form Pet Retail Brands, though the combined company continued to operate its stores under the original brand names of Pet Valu and Pet Supermarket. Pet Valu cites severe impact from the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States in its decision to wind down operations. According to Johns Hopkins University, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases since March has totaled nearly 9.5 …
BOSTON — Wayfair Inc. (NYSE: W), a Boston-based e-commerce firm specializing in home furniture, reported an increase of 66.5 percent in total net revenue during its third-quarter earnings call on Tuesday, Nov. 3. The company’s impressive year-over-year revenue growth from $1.5 billion to $3.8 billion caused its stock price to shoot up about 13 percent in early-hours trading before closing at $274.11 per share on Tuesday, up from $87.43 per share a year ago. Wayfair reported similar levels of revenue growth in both its domestic and international markets, noting that the size of its customer base had also grown by about 50 percent year-over-year. Wayfair now lists the number of active customers in its direct retail business as 28.8 million. Lastly, the company said that it completed about 15.8 million deliveries during the third quarter, a 72.8 percent increase from that period in 2019.
GREENVILLE AND SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Commercial real estate services firm NAI Earle Furman has merged operations with Pulliam Investment Co., a real estate owner and developer. Pulliam Investment is based in Spartanburg, S.C., and has been in business since 1970. Terms of the merger were not disclosed. Under the new partnership, John Easterling, CEO of Pulliam Investment, will focus on expanding NAI Earle Furman’s seniors housing division and growing the firm’s investment platform. Easterling is the past chairman of the Spartanburg County Transportation Committee and chairman of the City of Spartanburg Planning Commission. He has also served on the Project Design and Architectural Review Committee of the Spartanburg Development Council. Easterling is a graduate of Clemson University with an MBA from the University of South Carolina.
WILBRAHAM, MASS. — FIC Restaurants Inc., which operates the Friendly’s brand, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and entered in an agreement to sell all of its assets to Amici Partners Group LLC. Nearly all of Friendly’s 130 corporate-owned and franchised restaurant locations, known for burgers, sandwiches and ice cream, are expected to remain open subject to COVID-19 limitations. Friendly’s stated that it has sufficient cash on hand to continue operations, meet its obligations to employees, franchisees and vendors. Upon the sale closing, Amici expects to retain most employees at Friendly’s corporate-owned restaurant locations. Amici is an affiliate of BRIX Holdings, an owner-operator whose brands include Red Mango Yogurt Café Smoothie & Juice Bar, Smoothie Factory Juice Bar, RedBrick Pizza Kitchen Café and Souper Salad.