IRONDEQUOIT, N.Y. — Red Oak Capital Holdings has funded an $8.6 million bridge loan for the acquisition of Irondequoit Plaza, a 205,000-square-foot shopping center located near Rochester. Built on 21 acres in 1980 and last renovated in 2005, the center was roughly 95 percent leased at the time of sale to tenants such as Citizens Bank, Dollar Tree, Dunkin’ and Big Lots. Polaris Funding arranged the debt through Red Oak on behalf of the sponsor, Sky Capital Group, which also purchased the adjacent Wegmans supermarket. That property is not collateralized by the loan, which was structured with a three-year term and a 65.6 percent loan-to-value ratio. Michael Cleeman of Cleeman Realty Group represented Sky Capital Group in the purchase of the Wegmans store, which totals 102,337 square feet. Sam Seelenfreund, also with Cleeman Realty, represented the undisclosed seller in the Wegmans deal. The combined purchase price was $16.5 million.
DENTON, TEXAS — Hillwood, a Perot company, has unveiled plans for Landmark by Hillwood, a 3,200-acre mixed-use project in the northern Dallas suburb of Denton. The project team includes Hillwood subsidiaries Hillwood Communities and Hillwood Properties. The plans call for 900 acres of commercial space comprising 5 million square feet of retail, hospitality and entertainment space, approximately 6,000 single-family homes and more than 3,000 multifamily units. The site, which is situated at I-35W and Robson Ranch Road, was previously known as Hunter Ranch. The parcel is one of the original land holdings purchased by the Perot family in 1987. The property encompasses Pilot Knob Hill, the highest point in Denton, according to Hillwood. Once completed, Landmark by Hillwood will offer 1,100 acres of park and open space, including Pilot Knob Hill, as well as an interconnected trail system, recreation areas and public parks. Hillwood also plans to construct a series of learning parks, which aim to promote nature education and engagement and will be open to the public. Hillwood plans to break ground on the first phase of the project this September. Phase I will comprise 747 single-family lots, with models slated to open in spring 2026. Planning and leasing are already underway …
BOSSIER CITY, LA. — The Cordish Cos. has topped off Live! Casino & Hotel Louisiana, a $270 million hospitality and gaming entertainment complex in Bossier City. The Baltimore-based retail entertainment owner and operator broke ground on the project in December 2023. Cordish Cos. and general contractor AnderCorp finished vertical construction at the property yesterday in a ceremony that included state and local officials. Scheduled to open in first-quarter 2025, the Live! Casino & Hotel Louisiana will feature more than 47,000 square feet of gaming space; a sportsbook for live betting on sporting events; an upscale 550-room hotel with a resort-style pool and fitness center; 25,000-square-foot events center; structured and surface parking; a 31-site RV park; and 30,000 square feet of dining and entertainment venues, including Cordish brands Sports & Social, PBR Cowboy Bar and Luk Fu. During the topping off ceremony, Cordish also announced two other additions to the restaurant lineup: Ridotto Grand Café and The Prime Rib steakhouse. Situated along the Red River, the project is expected to create 750 new construction jobs and 750 permanent jobs. The site was formerly home to the vacant Diamond Jacks Casino & Hotel, which Cordish Cos. acquired in 2023. Live Casino & …
ROSWELL, GA. — Hardware retail chain Ace Hardware has opened its 5,000th domestic store. Dubbed Fixit Ace Hardware, the store is located in Roswell, roughly 20 miles north of Atlanta. Additionally, the Oak Brook, Ill.-based retailer opened its 100th new store of the year in Henderson, Nev., last month. Ace Hardware, which operates more than 5,800 outposts globally, plans to open an additional 200 stores by the end of this year, which marks 100 years of business for the brand.
WEYMOUTH, MASS. — CBRE has arranged the $23 million sale of Riverway Plaza, a 250,000-square-foot shopping center in Weymouth, a southern suburb of Boston. Lowe’s Home Improvement anchors the center, which sits on 23 acres. Other tenants include Michael’s, Dollar Tree and Staples. Nat Heald and Jordana Roet of CBRE represented the seller and procured the buyer, both of which requested anonymity, in the transaction.
SECAUCUS, N.J. — Abra Health has signed a 24,908-square-foot retail sublease in Secaucus. The operator of pediatric primary care and dental clinics is backfilling a space previously occupied by The Vitamin Shoppe and will utilize the space to centralize its billing operations and establish a call center. Jeff Kolodkin and Andrew Kirshenbaum of Newmark represented Abra Health in the lease transaction.
SAN DIEGO — GPI Cos., in partnership with the University of California, San Diego, has completed the development of 8980 Villa La Jolla Drive, an academic facility in at the corner of La Jolla Village and Villa La Jolla drives in San Diego. The nine-story, 114,000-square-foot building is directly across from the university and serves as a gateway to the main campus. The building includes academic, administrative and research space and will be a hub for students, faculty and patients, as well as the home for various programs offered by UC San Diego Health Sciences and UC San Diego Division of Extended Studies. Additionally, Bird Rock Coffee Roasters will occupy ground-floor retail space at the building. The project team included Gensler’s San Diego office as architect and Swinerton Builders as general contractor. JLL will manage the building.
LIVONIA, MICH. — Penske Automotive Group Inc. has acquired the Bill Brown Ford dealership in Livonia within southeast Michigan. The asset is the world’s largest Ford dealership by sales volume, according to Crain’s Detroit Business. Penske estimates the acquisition will add $550 million in annualized revenue. As part of the acquisition, Penske will acquire more than 200,000 square feet of existing facilities across 29 acres, including a main dealership premises, a pre-owned facility, fleet maintenance center and collision center. Year to date in 2024, Penske has completed acquisitions representing nearly $2 billion in estimated annualized revenue.
AUSTIN, TEXAS AND ORLANDO, FLA. — Darden Restaurants (NYSE: DRI) has agreed to acquire Chuy’s Holdings (NASDAQ: CHUY) for $605 million in an all-cash transaction. The Tex-Mex restaurant chain — which owns and operates 101 full-service restaurants across 15 states — will join Darden’s existing restaurant portfolio, which includes Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse and Ruth’s Chris Steak House, among others. Under terms of the merger agreement, Orlando-based Darden will acquire all outstanding shares of Chuy’s at $37.50 per share. The purchase price represents a 40 percent premium to the Austin-based company’s 60-day volume weighted price. Chuy’s board of directors unanimously approved the merger agreement, which includes a 30-day “go-shop” period that will allow the company to solicit alternative proposals from interested parties. The transaction is expected to close during the second quarter of 2025, subject to a number of closing conditions, including approval by a majority of Chuy’s stockholders. Darden acquired Ruth’s Chris in summer 2023 for $715 million. The company’s portfolio of restaurant brands also includes Yard House, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Eddie V’s and Bahama Breeze. Darden’s stock price closed at $147.35 per share on Thursday, July 17, down from $163.31 one year ago. …
Entertainment is playing an increasingly important role in the industry, anchoring both new and redeveloped projects and bolstering efforts to backfill large-format boxes. Shopping Center Business recently sat down with Nicole Poole, vice president of hospitality and entertainment at HFA Architecture + Engineering, to chat about design trends in this fast-growing segment. The veteran hospitality architect helped Topgolf develop its concept and currently works with the likes of Home Run Dugout, Blue Jeans Golf, Happy Dave’s, WorldSprings and Smash Park. SCB: What are some emerging design considerations in this category? Poole: Integrating tech and AI continues to be a big subject. But it’s interesting, I just hosted a roundtable discussion at SCB’s Entertainment Experience Evolution (EEE) conference, and there was a lot of interest in getting back to what is sometimes described as human-centric design. It’s what you traditionally see in hospitality, right? Maybe you check in at a nice hotel and notice that there’s a welcome message for you on the flatscreen TV in the lobby. Or when you come back down, the receptionist waves and greets you by name. As we design the next generation of tech- and activity-driven entertainment concepts, it’s important to stay cognizant of the …