SARASOTA, FLA. — Torburn Partners has announced plans for Sarasota Square, the redevelopment of the former Sarasota Square Mall. The Chicago-based developer signed leases with Whole Foods Market and HomeSense to anchor the first phase of the 96-acre mixed-use project. The retail portion is under construction, and the multifamily component will break ground in first-quarter 2026. Full plans for Sarasota Square include 1,200 luxury residential units; 530,000 square feet of retail, restaurant, and commercial space; and open-air gathering space for social events and community programming. Whole Foods will occupy a 35,828-square-foot grocery store, and HomeSense will occupy a 24,214-square-foot store. Other committed tenants include Chipotle Mexican Grill, CAVA Mediterranean, Joe & The Juice and Charles Schwab, which will open a 5,163-square-foot bank branch. Rod Castan and Alyona Tsutskova of Metro Commercial Real Estate are leading the retail leasing assignment at Sarasota Square on behalf of Torburn Partners.
Restaurant
SPRING, TEXAS — Dallas-based brokerage firm STRIVE has arranged the sale of a 5,336-square-foot restaurant building in Spring, located north of Houston, that is leased to Denny’s. Jackson Brewer of STRIVE represented the seller, a Denny’s franchise operator, in the transaction. The buyer was a local private investor. Both parties requested anonymity.
— By Bryan Ledbetter of Western Retail Advisors — Phoenix’s retail market continues to surge. Vacancies are dipping below 5 percent, gross absorption is exceeding 1.5 million square feet in the third quarter and asking triple-net rates continue to increase, reaching into the mid-$50 to $60 per square foot range for newly constructed space. West Valley Leads the Charge in New Development After decades of limited retail construction, metro Phoenix — and the West Valley, in particular — are flush with new space. Projects like SimonCRE’s Prasada in Surprise and Vestar’s Verrado in Buckeye are among the major new developments providing the high-end availability that tenants and residents have been asking for. Although elevated debt and construction costs have tempered new development, more than 1.2 million square feet is still under construction. The lion’s share of that product is already pre-leased. This keeps developers and investors bullish on Phoenix, and on the lookout for the Valley’s next development frontier. Though the West Valley reigns as Phoenix’s latest retail boom market, outliers in the East Valley are teeing up for their turn in the spotlight. Apache Junction is a great example… Far Southeast Valley Emerges as a Growth EngineA neighbor of …
SRS Brokers $4.6M Sale of New Restaurant Property in South Florida Leased to Starbucks
by John Nelson
POMPANO BEACH, FLA. — SRS Real Estate Partners has brokered the $4.6 million sale of a newly built restaurant in Pompano Beach leased to Starbucks Coffee. The South Florida restaurant was built in 2025 at 3895 N. Federal Highway, about 12 miles north of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Starbucks operates the 2,734-square-foot restaurant, which features a drive-thru, on a 10-year lease term with scheduled rent increases and extension options. Patrick Nutt and William Wamble of SRS represented the seller, a South Florida-based partnership, in the transaction. The buyer was a private investor based in Boston. Both parties requested anonymity.
MANVEL, TEXAS — McDonald’s will open a new restaurant in Manvel, located south of Houston. The fast food giant has ground-leased a 43,720-square-foot pad site at The Shops at Sedona Lakes from local owner-operator NewQuest. Lara Lee LaMendola represented NewQuest in the negotiations on an internal basis. Greg Stanislawski of The Retail Strategy represented McDonald’s.
LAKE OSWEGO, ORE. — SRS Real Estate Partners has arranged the $6.6 million ground lease sale of a restaurant property located at 14801 Kruse Oaks Drive in Lake Oswego. Chick-fil-A occupies the 8,400-square-foot asset, which was renovated in 2025, under a brand new, 15-year corporate-guaranteed lease. Calvin Short and Patrick Luther of SRS Capital Markets represented the seller, a San Francisco-based family office, while Kevin Held of SRS Capital Markets represented the buyer, an Idaho-based private investor, in the 1031 exchange deal.
If you’ve spent any time driving around Atlanta recently, you’ve probably noticed something. More development sites are returning with bulldozers and developers are taking down land parcels in the suburbs the size of small European countries. But this time, the approach is more strategic than ever. Gone are the days when a developer would carve out a shopping center for base rents less than $40 per square foot and call it a day. Today, some metro Atlanta developers are assembling larger tracts and creating hybrid projects that include multifamily housing, storage and even industrial uses in the back of the parcel, saving the front-facing road frontage for ground leases, build-to-suits and limited shop space. Automotive and restaurants concepts are clamoring for pads. The result? Those once-overlooked “front and center” pad sites and strip centers are suddenly the belle of the ball. The downside is paying too much on the buy side for the dirt for aggressively low caps rates. But all I can say for the rental rates that I’m seeing is “Wow.” Restaurants still lead In Atlanta’s retail market, restaurants continue to be the leading driver of leasing activity. According to observations, excluding junior box space, food-and-beverage deals made …
SANDY SPRINGS, GA. — Los Angeles-based Westwood Financial has purchased the retail component of Glenridge Square, a mixed-use development located at 5610 Glenridge Drive in Sandy Springs. The live-work-play property is situated adjacent to I-285 in Atlanta’s Central Perimeter submarket. The seller and sales price were not disclosed. Glenridge Square features 20,001 square feet of ground-level retail space that was 91 percent leased at the time of sale to tenants including Qdoba, Firehouse Subs, Blue Moon Pizza, Sushi Nami, Taziki’s Mediterranean, DaVinci’s Donuts, Venus Nail Lounge and Beauty Enhanced. The property also includes 168 apartments and 80,000 square feet of office space leased to tenants including Go2Foods’ headquarters (roughly 800 employees) and Haverty’s (about 3,000 employees). The offices and apartments were not included in the sale.
KANSAS CITY, MO. — Streats, a local restaurant known for its Mexican street tacos as well as Birria tacos and ramen, has opened at the Skyline Collection in downtown Kansas City. Located at 1111 Main, Streats occupies 1,389 square feet on the ground floor in the former KC Mac and Co. space. The lease marks the restaurant’s second Kansas City location. Streats joins Jason’s Deli, Banksia and Fat Bee at the Skyline Collection. Erin Johnston of Copaken Brooks represented the landlord on an internal basis. The Skyline Collection, which includes the 1111 Main and 1201 Walnut office towers, is nearing full retail occupancy.
By Casey Smallwood of SRS Real Estate Partners The quick-service restaurant (QSR) industry is reshaping retail real estate by capitalizing on the “15-minute city” trend — a movement where people can access essentials within a short walk, bike ride or delivery window from home. This shift, fueled by evolving consumer behavior, urban densification and the rise of digital ordering, is pushing QSRs to prioritize hyper-local presence over traditional highway or regional ‘hubs. The result is a transformation in both real estate development and the metrics that define success in the foodservice sector. Embedding into daily life Hyper-localization is about placing restaurants within the flow of everyday life — close to where people live, work and socialize. Rather than clustering around big-box retail or commuter corridors, many brands now target neighborhood locations near apartment clusters, schools and small mixed-use developments. 7 Brew Coffee, a drive-thru-only brand, exemplifies this model. Its small footprint and fast service make it ideal for small lots and secondary intersection spots once overlooked by national tenants. These locations are now thriving due to residential growth and proximity to commuter paths. With minimal barriers to entry and an emphasis on quick-service, 7 Brew is establishing a strong local …