NEW YORK CITY — In a dramatic move, the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) has postponed its annual RECon event over rapidly escalating concerns about COVID-19 (coronavirus), according to an announcement posted today on the trade association’s website. In 2019, more than 37,000 industry professionals descended on the Las Vegas Convention Center for the annual retail and real estate networking event, which featured 1,200 exhibitors and 853,000 square feet of exhibit space. In addition to postponing RECon, ICSC has suspended all of its events through June 30 of this year and is currently evaluating alternative dates for RECon. Registration, exhibitor and sponsorship fees will automatically roll over once the new date is announced or can be credited toward any future ICSC event, according to the organization’s website. At this time, fall events, including New York Deal Making, are scheduled to proceed as planned.
When I talk to out-of-staters about Texas, they often think I mean “Dallas” when discussing the Metroplex as a whole. That’s when I explain how important the Fort Worth market is to our thriving and healthy Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) retail scene. Weitzman, which operates offices in Texas’ major markets, has handled development, leasing and management in the Fort Worth market since our founding 30 years ago. Today, the Fort Worth area is home to some of the state’s most robust residential, commercial and cultural growth. In terms of retail, our most recent market survey shows that as of January 2020, Fort Worth’s retail market is about as healthy as it’s ever been. The Fort Worth-area market, which we’ll call Fort Worth for the sake of simplicity, largely encompasses Tarrant County. Today, Fort Worth reports a total multi-tenant retail inventory of 62.8 million square feet. As a reference, that figure accounts for about a third of the entire DFW retail market inventory, which clocks in at just over 200 million square feet. Fort Worth’s occupancy rate is around 93 percent, a healthy rate on par with the Dallas area’s occupancy. In terms of subcategories of retail product, the numbers of Fort …
KINGWOOD AND COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS — Breakfast eatery Snooze will open two new restaurants totaling 7,800 square feet, one in the northern Houston suburb of Kingwood and the other in College Station. The first restaurant will be located in the Kingwood Place Shopping Center and will span 3,800 square feet. The second will be located within Chimney Hill Retail Centers in College Station and will total 4,000 square feet. The openings are slated for August 2020 and February 2021, respectively. Houston-based Baker Katz represented Snooze in both lease negotiations. Stephen Tou of The Retail Connection represented the landlord in the Kingwood deal, and Clint Oldham and Brett Boatner of Oldham Goodwin represented the landlord in the College Station deal. Since its founding in 2006, Snooze has opened more than 40 restaurants across six states.
CHICAGO — Draper and Kramer Inc. has completed the second phase of its ongoing renovation of Lake Meadows Market in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood. The final element of Phase II was a full interior and exterior renovation of the shopping center’s 193,000-square-foot Jewel-Osco grocery store. Jewel-Osco parent company Albertsons shared costs of the $2.3 million project, which also included the addition of a mural entitled “Heart of Bronzeville” by local artist Corey Jenkins. Previous Phase II work included the addition of more than 18,000 square feet of new and renovated retail space for new tenants, including Taco Bell, Wing Stop, Home Run Inn Pizza and Sola Salon Studios and Culver’s. Camburas & Theodore Ltd. Served as the architect for the Jewel-Osco renovation and Powers & Sons Construction Co. was the general contractor.
KILDEER, ILL. — The Boulder Group has arranged the $24 million sale of a single-tenant property net leased to Whole Foods in Kildeer, approximately 40 miles northwest of Chicago. The 50,000-square-foot building is located at 20281 N. Rand Road and serves as the anchor to Kildeer Market Place. Randy Blankstein and Jimmy Goodman of Boulder represented the seller, a Chicago-based real estate company. An East Coast-based investor purchased the asset in a 1031 exchange.
NEW YORK CITY — Modell’s Sporting Goods has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey. The fourth-generation, family-owned retailer will close all of its 153 stores throughout New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. The New York City-based sporting goods, athletic footwear, active apparel and fan gear retailer was founded in 1889. The company will begin liquidation sales Friday, March 13 and plans to continue operating its online platform. Modell’s lenders, which include Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase, will provide the company with the financial flexibility to operate the business in the near term, including paying employee wages and benefits. According to the New York Post, Modell’s employs 3,623 workers. With the rising competition and plethora of online options to shop for athletic gear, CEO Mitchell Modell cites an “extremely challenging environment for retailers” as a reason for the bankruptcy. “Over the past year, we evaluated several options to restructure our business to allow us to maintain our current operations,” says Modell. “While we achieved some success, in partnership with our landlords and vendors, it was not enough to …
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JLL: Coronavirus Is Impacting Retail Supply Chains
With the stock market dropping to lows unprecedented since the Great Recession on Monday and the World Health Organization (WHO) declaring the outbreak of COVID-19 a pandemic, concerns are now rising regarding coronavirus’ long-term impact on domestic investments. But will the disease have any impact on brick-and-mortar retail? According to a research report from JLL, while retail supply chains have already been affected, the health of retail as whole depends heavily on how long the pandemic lasts. Certain sectors have already been impacted, and those in the industry can model their current economic outlook on the course SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) took in 2003. However, whether that model will hold as the pandemic evolves remains to be seen. The JLL report explains that the type of short-lived and limited outbreak created by SARS mainly affects the “first and second quarters with many retailers feeling impacts of a disrupted supply chain, but with a subsequent rebound in the following quarters.” Sectors already affected include inventory and complex supply lines. Chinese-manufactured goods may not be able to reach retailers in the coming weeks to months, as the retailers’ existing supply diminishes. Fashion stocks, especially for luxury retailers dependent on Chinese consumers …
GAINESVILLE, FLA. — Butler Enterprises has signed Anthropologie to an 8,750-square-foot lease within Butler Town Center in Gainesville. Butler expects the space to be ready by this fall. The store will be situated off Archer Road across from The Cheesecake Factory. Anthropologie has more than 200 stores in the United States, Canada and Europe, and, according to its website, caters to “sophisticated and contemporary women aged 28 to 45.” The retailer sells women’s apparel and accessories, home décor, furniture and gifts. The 450,000-square-foot Butler Town Center is situated on 267 acres adjacent to Butler Plaza and Butler North, which are both fully leased and combine to span 1.7 million square feet.
FATE, TEXAS — Brookshire Grocery Co., a Tyler, Texas-based chain that operates about 180 grocery stores in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas, will open a FRESH by Brookshire store in Fate, located about 30 miles northeast of Dallas. The store will span a minimum of 55,000 square feet and will be located at the corner of Interstate 30 and Memorial Parkway. Construction is scheduled to begin by the end of the year, and the store is slated to open in late 2021.
WILKES-BARRE, PENN. — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the $2.6 million sale of Verizon & FedEx Strip Centers, a 9,306-square-foot retail strip center in Wilkes-Barre, a city in northeastern Pennsylvania. The strip is located at 940-46 Schechter Drive and was 100 percent leased at the time of sale. Derrick Dougherty and Mark Krantz of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller and secured the buyer. Both parties were limited liability companies that requested anonymity.