MIDDLESEX, N.J. — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the sale of a 20,986-square-foot retail property in Middlesex, about 40 miles southeast of New York City. Alan Cafiero, Brent Hyldahl and Ben Sgambati of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller, a limited liability company, and procured the buyer, an individual/personal trust. Both parties requested anonymity.
SANTA ROSA, CALIF. — SRS Real Estate Partners has arranged the purchase of a retail building located within Santa Rosa Southside Shopping Center in Santa Rosa. DiLorenzo Santa Rosa Real Estate acquired the asset from an undisclosed seller for $6.3 million. Planet Fitness will occupy between 18,000 square feet to 22,000 square feet of the 38,000-square-foot facility. Scott Landgraf, Amber Edwards and Sarah Edwards of SRS Real Estate Partners represented the buyer, while CBRE and Meridian Commercial represented the seller in the transaction.
SHAFTER, CALIF. — Wonderful Real Estate Development has started construction of a new corporate office building, conference center, wellness center, amenity center and vocational school at Wonderful Industrial Park (WIP) in Shafter. Spanning 98,000 square feet, the logistics park is slated for completion in first-quarter 2022. The development will include a 61,000-square-foot corporate office component, a 37,200-square-foot vocational training center and an 8,500-square-foot restaurant café space. The corporate office space will be home to more than 200 Central Valley employees, including those working for Wonderful Citrus, Wonderful Pistachios and Almonds, Suterra, Pom Wonderful and Wonderful Real Estate Development. Additionally, the office space will provide large meeting rooms that will be available to companies within WIP and the community at-large. The development’s Wonderful Wellness Center will include a gym, exercise classes, healthy awareness programs and access to a mobile clinic. In addition to Wonderful Company’s developments, Walmart Inc. is nearing the completion of a 630,000-square-foot distribution facility at WIP. The highly automated property is optimized for handling, packaging and shipping food. The facility is located on 65 acres that Walmart acquired from WIP in 2018. The facility is slated to be fully operational by spring 2021.
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 …
By Addison Fairchild, Baird Holm At its onset nearly nine months ago, the novel coronavirus forced federal, state and local leaders to consider measures necessary to prevent the virus’s inevitable spread. Those leaders imposed measures they calculated to balance minimizing the spread and harm of coronavirus to the national and local economies. Whether those measures were effective in achieving those goals is a question for another day. However, now that coronavirus is currently a part of daily life, businesses have been considering what measures they must take. Like political leaders, they must also consider balancing the potential liability they may face for the spread of the coronavirus or other illness, the harm to their patrons and clients, and the harm to their bottom lines. Commercial landlords are not exempt from considering the coronavirus or other pandemics in future leasing. It is unlikely a court would find a commercial landlord liable for the spread of a pandemic in their leased properties, except in rare circumstances. However, tenants may require landlords to provide upgrades to properties to ensure the safety of the leased premises. This article considers whether landlords may be liable for the spread of a pandemic in their leased premises. …
The Houston Retail Outlook— How is the Houston Market Responding to the Pandemic? webinar, hosted by Shopping Center Business and Texas Real Estate Business, covers the impacts of COVID-19 and how retail experts are bringing creativity to challenging situations. Houston boasts a dynamic retail and restaurant scene that has been a requisite landing spot for new shopping, dining and entertainment users over the last few years. With a plethora of new mixed-use destinations in development or coming on line, can the market continue to absorb the new retail space despite pandemic-related restrictions and reduced occupancies? See a list of some topics covered below: What initiatives have retail landlords and operators taken to mitigate the disruption brought on by COVID-19? What is the outlook in terms of leasing for the Houston market over the next six months? What kinds of retail deals are capital sources targeting right now, and what is the Houston market seeing in terms of deal velocity and volume? How will broader expectations for the Houston economy impact the performance of the retail market in the coming months? Panelists: Jake Donaldson (moderator), Method Architecture Emily Durham, Waterman Steele Real Estate Advisors Lacee Jacobs, Midway David Luther, NewQuest Properties Jonathan Hicks, …
FORT WORTH, TEXAS — California-based home furnishing retailer Living Spaces has opened a 150,000-square-foot showroom at 8640 Tehama Ridge Parkway on the north side of Fort Worth. The space will showcase various designs and furniture arrangements for living rooms, dining rooms, bedrooms, home offices and outdoor areas. The space also features a playroom and climbing complex for children. About 100 people have been hired to staff the store, which is the company’s 27th overall.
HOFFMAN ESTATES, ILL. — The first two tenants have signed leases at Bell Works Chicagoland in Hoffman Estates. CPA Group Advisors is the first office tenant and Fairgrounds Craft Coffee and Tea is the first retail tenant. Bell Works Chicagoland is the redevelopment of the 1.6 million-square-foot former AT&T headquarters from developer Somerset Development. Fairgrounds will operate a kiosk at Bell Works beginning in December with plans to open a permanent location with a full cocktail bar in early 2022. Boutique full-service accounting firm CPA Advisors will occupy one of the property’s “ready-to-wear” office spaces. These pre-built office suites offer immediate occupancy for small- to medium-sized businesses. The $200 million Bell Works Chicagoland mirrors Somerset’s Bell Works New Jersey. Plans call for 1.2 million square feet of office space; 60,000 square feet of conference facilities, storage and amenities; and 60,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space. Despite COVID-19, interior renovations remain on schedule and construction is slated for completion this week. Colliers International and The Garibaldi Group are the leasing teams marketing office space at the property.
URBANDALE, IOWA — DealPoint Merrill LLC has acquired a 103,906-square-foot former Kmart shopping center in Urbandale near Des Moines. The property sits on 12 acres near I-35 and I-235. DealPoint Merrill plans to redevelop the asset into a 131,000-square-foot project with two outparcels. DealPoint Merrill’s CEO David Frank negotiated the transaction and President Sterling McGregor handled the due diligence and financing. The seller and purchase price were undisclosed.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Retail sales have been increasing month-over-month and year-over-year for every month since June, according to the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) Monthly Economic Review. Retail sales in October were up 1.9 percent over September, which beat expectations from economists surveyed by Dow Jones. Additionally, October retail sales were up 8.6 percent since January 2020, according to research from Harvard University’s Opportunity Insights Economic Tracker. NRF’s chief economist Jack Kleinhenz notes in the monthly report that the rebounding sales were a positive indicator for retailers that are hoping for a robust sales performance this holiday season. “Strong growth in retail sales during the last few months points to the resiliency of consumers even in this disruptive pandemic environment,” says Kleinhenz. The economist also pointed to additional stimulus money could help keep the U.S. economy on track. NRF’s report pointed to increasing retail sales stemming from an uptick in disposal personal income, which was up 5.4 percent year-over-year as of August, and a savings rate of 14.4 percent that has remained in double digits for six straight months. Clothes and accessories sales jumped by 11 percent, while sales of sporting goods, music and books grew 5.7 percent. Also in the …