BENTONVILLE, ARK. — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has tapped Fort Myers, Fla.-based J.L. Wallace to remodel a Sam's Club store in Bentonville. The remodeling will only take place at night, which will keep the store fully operational during the project. Ronald D. Ress will serve as the architect, and Kimley-Horn & Associates will provide engineering services.
ORLANDO, FLA. — Simon Property Group has completed the development of a 150,000-square-foot outdoor promenade at The Florida Mall in Orlando. Forever 21 and Zara have opened in the property as well as a 25,000-square-foot H&M, which is one of the first in Florida. The Florida Mall houses more than 250 retailers, six department stores and six restaurants.
CHICAGO — Beverly Hills, Calif.-based Primestor Development has signed Burlington Coat Factory to its 454,000-square-foot Marshfield Plaza, which is located on 119th Street in Chicago. The retail giant will occupy 64,000 square feet of space at the center. Current tenants include Chili’s, Marshalls, Dollar Tree, Target, Jewel-Osco, Staples, Petco, Anna¹s Linens, Fifth Third Bank and Panda Express. The retailer plans to open the location in summer 2010.
GREENWICH, CONN. — FirstService Williams has brokered the sale of an approximately 5,600-square-foot retail property located in downtown Greenwich for $8 million. The retail property is situated at 75 Greenwich Ave. and is occupied by Sephora. Stephen Westerberg of FirstService Williams' Stamford, Conn., office represented the seller, Merlof LLC. The buyer, 75 Greenwich Avenue LLC, utilized in-house representation.
AVENTURA, FLA. — Suffollk Construction has completed vertical work on the 14,864-square-foot Aventura Arts & Cultural Center. The 325-seat performing arts center is located along the waterfront in Aventura. The architecture firm PGA designed the property to LEED standards, which include efficient fixtures, recycled local materials and low VOC paints and coatings.
SHAKER HEIGHTS AND PARMA, OHIO — Fort Wayne, Ind.-based Equity Investment Group has acquired two shopping centers totaling 223,657 square feet from Edens & Avant. The assets are the Heinen’s Fine Foods-anchored Shaker Towne Centre in Shaker Heights and the Giant Eagle-anchored Snow View Plaza in Parma. At the time of closing, Shaker Towne was 85 percent occupied and Snow View was 90 percent occupied. The acquisition price was not disclosed.
HARRISBURG AND DICKSON CITY, PA. — Cedar Shopping Centers has transferred the ownership of two of its Pennsylvania shopping centers to a joint venture between itself and RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust. RioCan will own an 80 percent interest and Cedar will own a 20 percent interest in Blue Mountain Shopping Commons in Harrisburg and Sunset Crossing in Dickson City. Blue Mountain Commons totals 121,000 square feet and Sunset Crossing totals 74,000 square feet. Both shopping centers are anchored by Giant Food Stores. Cedar realized a $32 million profit from the transfer, which is being used to reduce the balance of the company's credit facilities. The deal represents two of seven properties that will be transferred to the joint venture. The remaining five properties will close during the first quarter of next year.
PHOENIX — Grubb & Ellis|BRE Commercial has negotiated Financial Trading and Transacting Corp.’s $38.175 million acquisition of three Phoenix retail centers totaling 362,965 square feet. Represented by Grubb & Ellis’ Ryan Schubert and Michael Hackett, Financial Trading purchased Village Fair North, a 201,800-square-foot center located on the northeast corner of Tatum Boulevard and Cactus Road, for $20.6 million; Village Square II, a 138,788-square-foot center located on the southwest corner of Tatum and Cactus, for $14.5 million; and the 22,377-square-foot Village Square I, which is home to Party City and T.J. Maxx, for $3.075 million. The three centers were a combined 95 percent leased at the time of sale.
KNOXVILLE, TENN. — Centro Properties Group has sold the 127,000-square-foot Suburban Plaza shopping center to Baker Storey McDonald Properties for an undisclosed amount. The center, located on Kingston Pike in Knoxville, is 88 percent leased and is anchored by Toys “R” Us and Barnes & Noble. Stephen Brink of First Southern Mortgage arranged acquisition financing, which was provided by Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based ORNL Federal Credit Union. Tony D'Ambrosio and Joe Montgomery of Colliers Spectrum Cauble represented Centro, and Baker Storey represented itself in the transaction.
CALEXICO, CALIF. — Hanley Investment Group Real Estate Advisors has brokered Calexico Retail Associates LLC’s $5.2 million sale of the fee-simple ownership in the land leased to a single-tenant building occupied by Forever 21 at 1113 Imperial Highway West in Calexico. Represented by Ace Realty’s Bryan Sung, the buyer, John Choi of Los Angeles, purchased the property in an all-cash transaction to fulfill a 1031-exchange requirement. Carlos J. Lopez of Hanley Investment Group represented the seller in the transaction.