CHICAGO — Brown Bag Seafood Co. will open its newest location in Willis Tower. The fast-casual seafood concept will be located in Catalog, the 300,000-square-foot dining and retail area at the base of the office tower. Catalog is currently under construction. Willis Tower is undergoing a $500 million renovation project, the biggest transformation in the building’s 46-year history. The first phase is expected to be open to the public in late 2019. Brown Bag Seafood Co. joins Convene, Urbanspace, Shake Shack, Sweetgreen, Starbucks and Market Creations. The Willis Tower location will be Brown Bag’s sixth restaurant. Willis Tower, formerly Sears Tower, is a 110-story skyscraper and is the tallest building in Chicago.
Milwaukee, a city known for beer, motorcycles and baseball, is currently in a position of shifting from what was once perceived as the normal retail marketplace into the new age of retail. This type of retail is ever-changing and has a deeper focus on experiential activities and artisanal food. These two words, “experiential” and “artisanal,” are frequently being used to describe where the retail landscape is heading. Online competitors, as well as changing consumer preferences, are driving out the traditional department store models and forcing retailers to adapt to this way of life or suffer struggling sales and inevitable store closures. Adaptive reuse The story of traditional retail being dead due to online retailers’ entrances into different market segments continues to invade publications throughout the country. While there may be some truth to that for certain retailers such as Toys ‘R’ Us, Babies ‘R’ Us, Shopko, Bon-Ton and Payless ShoeSource, an argument can be made that it was also their inability to adapt in the marketplace that led to their demise. These store closures affected numerous markets throughout the country and Milwaukee was no different in seeing several of these retailers close multiple locations across the metro area, leaving landlords …
FULTON, MISS. — Marcus & Millichap has arranged the sale of a Walmart-anchored shopping center situated at 100 Interchange Drive in Fulton in two separate transactions. In the first deal, Bright-Fulton LP sold a 109,400-square-foot Walmart Supercenter to Bluejay Capital LLC, a private real estate investor based in New York, for $6.2 million. The property is triple-net leased to Walmart, which recently signed a new 10-year lease extension. On the same property, Bright-Fulton sold a 30,000-square-foot retail strip center that was 69 percent occupied at the time of the sale to tenants including Cato, Rent-A-Center, Shoe Show and AT&T. SJ Trust and DJ Trust, private local investors, bought the center for $1.3 million. Don McMinn and Zach Taylor of Marcus & Millichap’s Taylor McMinn Retail Group represented the seller in both transactions. The seller divided the property during the sale into two separate parcels to “achieve 50 basis points better than market pricing for the entire shopping center,” says Taylor.
NAPERVILLE, ILL. — Phillips Edison & Co. Inc. (PECO) has purchased Naperville Crossings, a 146,591-square-foot shopping center in Naperville. The purchase price was $49.9 million, according to Crain’s Chicago Business. A newly constructed, 21,820-square-foot Aldi grocery store anchors the property. Other tenants at the retail center, which is 92 percent leased, include AT&T, Biaggi’s Ristorante Italiano, Massage Envy, Nothing Bundt Cakes, Orangetheory Fitness, Panera Bread and Starbucks. Evan Halkias and Michael Marks of Cushman & Wakefield represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction.
BLOOMINGTON, MINN. — KW Commercial has brokered the sale of Amsden Ridge Shopping Center in Bloomington for $3.9 million. The two-building, 27,559-square-foot retail center is located on Ensign Avenue South. The shopping center includes retail, restaurant and office tenants. Matthew Klein of KW Commercial represented the seller, Amsden LLC, and secured the buyer, Hoss Bros. LLC.
NEW YORK CITY — Rochester, New York-based grocer Wegmans will open a 74,000-square-foot store within the Admirals Row redevelopment project located on Flushing Avenue in Brooklyn. The grand opening is scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 27. The store, which will be the company’s first location in New York City, is expected to create about 350 full- and part-time jobs. Wegmans Brooklyn will carry more than 60,000 individual products and offer second-floor mezzanine space with a bar serving food, wine, beer and spirits.
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. — Capital One is slated to open its first Capital One Café location in Arizona at Macerich’s Scottsdale Fashion Square in early 2020. As the first of its kind in Arizona, Capital One Café integrates digital tools and in-person interactions focused on customer needs. Open to both Capital One account holders and non-account holders, the café will offer customers a place to get help with their accounts, learn about new digital and financial tools, free Wi-Fi, and coffee and pastries made by a local baker. The 5,792-square-foot Capital One Café in Scottsdale will join 15 other locations around the country. Cafés are currently located in Austin, Boston, Boulder, Colo., Denver, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Richmond, Va., San Francisco, Seattle, South Florida, St. Cloud, Minn., Portland, Ore., San Diego and Washington, D.C.
Long Island represents one of the most sought-after suburban retail markets in the Northeast. It’s almost guaranteed that when a retailer opens on Long Island — especially concepts centered on fast-casual dining, boutique fitness experiences and specialized beauty services — it becomes a top performer in the chain’s overall portfolio. Service-oriented retailers are quickly replacing concepts cannibalized by online shopping and are proving to be wildly successful in this important market. With an average household income that trends higher than the national average, a dense population — 2.8 million people live in Nassau and Suffolk counties — and a highly educated consumer base, high-profile national chains recognize the value of having a presence on Long Island. The daytime population swells in areas around shopping centers, hospitals and medical districts, as well as office corridors, while new multifamily and mixed-use developments promise to bring increased foot traffic to retailers seeking a presence on Long Island. Additionally, suburban downtown areas are making resurgences thanks to relaxed zoning restrictions. As the areas around real estate hotbeds like the Route 110 office corridor in Farmingdale, New York, and the Roosevelt Field trade area continue to evolve, new retail centers and mixed-use campuses are emerging. …
HOUSTON — Local developer Midway has signed retail leases with three new tenants at CITYCENTRE, a 47-acre mixed-use destination in Houston that opened in 2010. New retailers include handbag and accessories provider Brahmin, which will open a 1,000-square-foot store; Lubbock-based City Bank, which will occupy 4,000 square feet; and Tiff’s Treats, which has signed a 1,430-square-foot lease. Lilly Golden and Blair Golden of Evergreen Commercial represented Midway in the lease negotiations. Brad Downs of The Auber Group represented Brahmin, and Jonathan Probst with The Retail Connection represented Tiff’s Treats, both of which are slated to open this fall. CITYCENTRE features 350,500 square feet of retail and dining space, 625,000 square feet of Class A office space, 35 brownstone residences, 1,155 upscale apartment and loft units, the 171-room Four Points by Sheraton–CITYCENTRE and 255-room Hotel Sorella CITYCENTRE.
HOUSTON — SeaSide Poké has become the latest addition to the tenant roster at Understory, a 35,000-square-foot food hall and communal gathering spot within international developer Skanska’s Capitol Tower office building in downtown Houston. SeaSide Poké, which will occupy approximately 500 square feet within the 9,000-square-foot culinary market, joins East Hampton Sandwich Co., Boomtown Coffee, Mama Ninfa’s Tacos y Tortas, MONA Fresh Italian Food and Flip ‘n Patties as the first six tenants at Understory. Nick Hernandez, Crystal Allen and Lacee Wilke of Transwestern represented Skanska and SeaSide Poké in the lease negotiations. Understory is scheduled to open later this year.