HOUSTON — The Silver Group has arranged the sale of a single-tenant retail store in northwest Houston that is leased to Walgreens. Walgreens chose the newly built store, located at 11220 Louetta Road, as a relocation for an older Walgreens drugstore roughly a half-mile to the west. The new store is situated adjacent to The Vintage, a 630-acre enclave featuring single-family residences, a Whole Foods Market-anchored shopping center, office space and multifamily properties. The Silver Group represented the undisclosed developer in the sale, and SVN-Texas represented the undisclosed buyer. The new Walgreens is the 71st drugstore The Silver Group has brokered.
HOUSTON — Thor Equities has secured three new retail leases at Kirby Collection, a 1 million-square-foot mixed-use development in Houston’s River Oaks neighborhood. Located in the Upper Kirby District of River Oaks, the project features two levels of retail space totaling 65,000 square feet, a 25-story residential tower with 199 apartment units and a 13-story, 186,000-square-foot Class A office building. The new tenants joining Kirby Collection include boutique retailer A Ma Maniere leasing 2,200 square feet, Indian restaurant Great W’Kana Café leasing 2,960 square feet and high-end hair salon Atelier Isabelle Rose leasing 3,855 square feet. Other recent transactions include high-end bowling and dining concept Pinstripes leasing 33,830 square feet; Whitney Bank leasing the entire 11th floor of the office tower for its regional headquarters, as well as ground-floor retail space for a bank branch; Novum Energy Trading leasing space on the 10th floor for its global headquarters; and Regency Centers leasing 4,000 square feet. The development team for Kirby Collection includes general contractor E.E. Reed Construction, architect Richard Keating Architecture, interior designer Dianna Wong Architecture + Design, Houston-based architect of record Kirksey, structural engineer Walter P. Moore and Houston-based MEP engineer WYLIE.
MINNEAPOLIS — Upland Real Estate Group Inc. has arranged the sale of 700 Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis for $7.5 million. Seven the Steakhouse and Clear Channel Billboards occupy the 30,977-square-foot, net leased retail building. Both tenants have over nine years remaining on their leases with annual rent increases in place. Seven the Steakhouse has operated at the property since 2007. Nearby attractions include Pantages Theatre, Target Field (home of the Minnesota Twins) and U.S. Bank Stadium (home of the Minnesota Vikings). Keith Sturm, Deborah Vannelli and Amanda Leathers of Upland represented the undisclosed seller. A private New Jersey-based investor purchased the asset.
MIAMI — Fifth Third Bank has provided a $43 million construction loan for the construction of 53,000 square feet of retail space and a 1,100-space parking garage at Miami Worldcenter, a 27-acre mixed-use project in downtown Miami. Miami Worldcenter Associates and CIM GROUP are developing the project, which at full build-out will feature 360,000 square feet of retail space, apartments buildings, a 600,000-square-foot office building, 1,700-room Marriott Marquis hotel and 350,000 square feet of convention space. The loan brings the total amount of financing secured to date to approximately $500 million.
NASHVILLE, TENN. — Cobalt Real Estate Solutions LLC has acquired Jackson Downs, a 134,818-square-foot shopping center in Nashville, for $16.3 million. Viking Partners sold the asset, and Integrated Realty Advisors arranged acquisition financing through ORIX RE Holdings LLC. Marshalls and OfficeMax anchor the property, and Target and Kohl’s are shadow-anchors. At the time of sale, Jackson Downs was fully occupied. Divaris Real Estate and Divaris Property Management Corp. have been retained to oversee leasing and management of the property, with support from Colliers International.
HOFFMAN ESTATES, ILL. AND CINCINNATI — Sears Holdings Corp. has announced that 64 Kmart stores and 39 Sears stores will close nationwide between March and early April of this year. Sears had previously unveiled an effort to close unprofitable stores and “right size” store footprints. Eligible associates impacted by these store closures will receive severance and will have the opportunity to apply for open positions at area Kmart or Sears stores. Liquidation sales will begin as early as Jan. 12 at the stores set to close. The company is closing three Kmart stores and three Sears stores in its home state of Illinois. For a full list of store closings, click here. Meanwhile, Cincinnati-based Macy’s has also announced the planned closure of 11 stores, four of which were previously disclosed. With these closures, the retailer will have completed 81 of the approximately 100 planned store closures announced in August 2016. The company intends to close approximately 19 additional stores as leases or operating covenants expire or sales transactions are completed. Including the newly announced stores, Macy’s has closed 124 stores since 2015. A majority of the Macy’s stores closing in early 2018 are located in California and Florida. A full list is available here. …
DOTHAN, ALA. — InvenTrust Properties Inc. has sold Dothan Pavilion, a 327,423-square-foot shopping center located at 4601 Montgomery Highway in Dothan, for $33.8 million. Dothan Pavilion Group LLC acquired the asset, and Jim Hamilton, Richard Reid and Barry Brown of HFF arranged the transaction on behalf of InvenTrust. At the time of sale, Dothan Pavilion was 89 percent leased to tenants including Bed Bath & Beyond, Barnes & Noble, Carmike Cinemas AMC Theatres, Michaels, Ross Dress for Less, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Target, Lowe’s Home Improvement, Kohl’s, Moe’s Southwest Grill, Ulta Beauty, Cold Stone Creamery and GameStop.
KILLEEN, TEXAS — The Woodmont Co. has closed four leases totaling 105,851 square feet at Wendland Plaza, a 205,224-square-foot shopping center located at 901 S. Fort Hood St. in Killeen. The four transactions bring the center to 85 percent occupancy. Conn’s Home Plus will lease 45,000 square feet, Altitude Trampoline Park will lease 44,580 square feet, Dollar Tree will lease 10,500 square feet and Lumber Liquidators will lease 5,771 square feet. Grant Gary and Dan Rebensdorf of The Woodmont Co. represented the landlord, Killeen ATM LLC.
When Gene Munster, managing partner of Minneapolis-based venture capital firm Loup Ventures, predicted that e-commerce giant Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) would buy department store chain Target (NYSE: TGT) this year, he knew such a declaration would make waves. In a New Year’s Day post on the Loup Ventures website titled “8 Tech Predictions for 2018,” Munster admitted it was his “boldest prediction.” “Seeing the value of the combination is easy. Amazon believes the future of retail is a mix of mostly online and some offline,” wrote Munster. “Target is the ideal offline partner for Amazon for two reasons: shared demographics and a manageable-but-comprehensive store count.” Business websites and magazines were quick to respond with skepticism, authoring headlines such as “Stop The Insanity Amazon Will Not Be Buying Target” (TheStreet), “Amazon Buying Target Isn’t as Likely as One Tech Analyst Seems to Think” (Adweek) and “No, Amazon Isn’t Buying Target in 2018” (Forbes). Garrick Brown, vice president of retail research for the Americas with Cushman & Wakefield, says “the rumor’s been floating around for a while” that Amazon is looking to buy Target. He estimates the odds of the deal happening at between 25 percent and 33 percent. Jeff Green, president and …
The overall Kansas City retail market remains very healthy and active. As retailers continue to navigate through e-commerce challenges, developers continue to get creative with the redevelopment of existing centers, adding mixed-use components and consolidation of big box vacancies. Restaurants and hospitality seem to be catalysts in helping to kick-start these redevelopments from the retail side. Over the past year, retail spending in Kansas City has continued to increase, but there remains a limited amount of speculative construction in the market. Therefore, the vacancy rate has dropped from 6.2 percent in 2016 to 5.7 percent as of the third quarter of 2017. The average rental rate has increased from $12.85 to $13.05 per square foot as of the third quarter. Solid job creation from major employers like Cerner and Garmin has helped the unemployment rate of 3.7 percent stay below the national average of 4.1 percent. The restaurant sector is in the process of evolving just as the retail sector is. We are seeing a lot of the major chains slowly shuttering locations where the larger footprint is no longer viable. These properties are getting backfilled fairly quickly by retailers and smaller local restaurant groups. Retail investors have stayed active. …