Nearly all of Kansas City is seeing a significant increase in retail and restaurant construction, with many new development projects now coming to fruition. Several of these new construction projects incorporate apartments and other types of entertainment, office or residential space above first-floor retail. Propelled by the recent opening of the streetcar and new apartment complexes across the city, retail in downtown Kansas City received a lot of leasing attention in 2016, according to CoStar Group. “More people are moving downtown for walkability and a taste of urban living, so retail positioned near the streetcar route or on the ground level of apartment buildings could see more demand,” wrote CoStar in its third-quarter overview of the Kansas City retail market. “In the area running from River Market down to Country Club Plaza, as much space leased in the first three quarters of 2016 as did in all of 2015.” Meanwhile, we are experiencing a number of projects where the traditional, older enclosed malls and retail strip centers are being torn down and redeveloped as mixed-use properties across the Kansas City retail market. Standout submarkets, corridors Annual deliveries in greater Kansas City averaged just over 1 million square feet per year …
Retail
Ellis Partners Breaks Ground on Renovation of Pruneyard Mixed-Use Center in Silicon Valley
by Nellie Day
CAMPBELL, CALIF. — Ellis Partners has broken ground on the multi-phased renovation of The Pruneyard, a 27-acre mixed-use shopping center in the Silicon Valley city of Campbell. The Pruneyard contains 365,000 square feet of Class A office space, 253,000 square feet of retail and restaurants, and a 170-room Doubletree Hotel. The infill project has not been updated for nearly 20 years. It is located at 1875. S. Bascom Road in the West Valley community. Ellis Partners purchased The Pruneyard from Equity Office Properties for $280 million in 2014. “The Pruneyard has been a premier West Valley office location for businesses large and small for over four decades,” Jason Morehouse, partner and director of acquisitions at Ellis Partners, said at the time of acquisition. “With strategic investments in the site and the adjacent retail center, we believe we can further bolster the value proposition for our nearly 85 office tenants by creating an even more robust and dynamic retail and entertainment amenity package.” At the time of acquisition, the three-building office component had average in-place office rents that were about 30 percent below market value with substantial near-term rollover in a rising market. The hotel component previously operated as an independent …
LOS ANGELES — Kilroy Realty Corp. has purchased The Sunset, a 179,000-square-foot mixed-use development in the West Hollywood submarket of Los Angeles, for $210 million. The property is located at 8560-8590 Sunset Blvd. on the famous Sunset Strip. The seller, Broadreach Capital Partners, acquired the asset from Apollo Real Estate in 2006 for $105 million. The Sunset occupies 2.2 acres along Sunset Boulevard. It features a 72,000-square-foot office tower and a three-building retail plaza atop a 107,000-square-foot subterranean parking structure. The transaction also includes three billboards atop the retail buildings that were fully leased in December 2016. The complex is 88 percent leased with a large fashion and health/fitness presence, including Equinox, SoulCycle, H&M and Oliver Peoples. The site previously held the headquarters for Playboy Entertainment. The Sunset is adjacent to CIM’s $365 million Sunset La Cienega mixed-use project, which will include residential units, a hotel and ground-floor retail space. HFF’s Ryan Gallagher, Michael Leggett, Bryan Ley, Andrew Harper and Tim Geiman represented Broadreach in the transaction. — Nellie Day
There are two trends that describe the current state of retail development in Southern Nevada: restaurants are expanding and some junior boxes are closing. Ecommerce competition and the consolidation of retailers nationally has caused junior box tenants to continue to struggle. It is odd to see a new development like the 1.6-million-square-foot Downtown Summerlin open on the affluent west side of the Valley in October 2014, only to see two junior boxes close since then. The Sports Authority shuttered its doors earlier this year, while Golfsmith just announced it would cease operations by the end of 2016. Other retailers in the development are doing very well, but it is an unfortunate sign of the times to see junior anchors close in good retail developments. When analyzing ecommerce vs. bricks and mortar, retailers are paying more attention to the facts listed in the table below. The example compares Amazon to Walmart — both great businesses but differing models. The reason is clear why it is difficult to compete when Amazon is able to produce 165 percent more per employee. This analysis does not include the difference in fixed assets, which only further exaggerates the advantage for Amazon when considering what a …
To understand the state of retail in Atlanta in 2005, you first looked at where and what developers were building, then to where retailers were locating and lastly to how consumers were shopping. Simply put, if a developer built it and a retailer occupied it, the consumer was sure to shop there, but that’s no longer the case. To understand the state of retail in Atlanta today, you need to start with the Atlanta consumer. Go Big or Go Home From 2000 to 2010, the Atlanta Regional Commission reports metro Atlanta added over 1 million residents with an additional 2.5 million people projected to be added between 2015 and 2040. Further, according to a study by the University of Georgia, half the state’s population growth is concentrated in just three Atlanta metro counties — Fulton, Gwinnett and Forsyth. A big driver for the growth is jobs, especially those in high-paying sectors like information, professional services, science and technology. EMSI reports that two of the counties making up Atlanta’s metropolitan area, Forsyth and Coweta, are in the top eight of large counties for skilled job growth. Additionally, Forbes claims Atlanta is now growing its business service sector faster than New York, …
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Rite Aid to Sell 865 Rite Aid Stores to Fred’s Pharmacy for $950M
by Nellie Day
DEERFIELD, ILL. AND CAMP HILL, PA. — Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ: WBA) and Rite Aid Corp. (NYSE: RAD) have agreed to sell 865 Rite Aid stores and some assets related to store operations to Fred’s (NASDAQ: FRED) for $950 million in an all-cash transaction. The agreement came about due to concerns by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in its review of Walgreens Boots Alliance’s proposed acquisition of Rite Aid, which was announced in October 2015. That transaction is scheduled to close in early 2017. The 865-store sale would make Fred’s one of the largest drugstore chains in the United States, with a significant presence in the South and on the East and West coasts. If the sale is approved, Fred’s will continue to employ all store associates and certain field and regional associates related to the operations. The stores will also continue to operate under the Rite Aid banner. Fred’s has also agreed to purchase additional Rite Aid stores if the FTC mandates additional divestments for the proposed merger. BofA Merrill Lynch acted as Walgreens Boots Alliance’s financial adviser. Sidley Austin LLP acted as legal counsel on transaction legal matters and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP acted as its legal …
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Seeks to Buy, Renovate Former Warner Grand Theatre for $80M
by Nellie Day
MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (MSO) is hoping to purchase and restore the former Warner Grand Theatre in downtown Milwaukee in time for its fall 2019 season. An anonymous donor is leading the initiative to purchase the vacant theater, which would be converted into a concert hall. The renovation would include bathroom modernizations and updated seating to fit a capacity of 1,750. The theater’s acquisition and renovations are expected to cost between $70 million and $80 million. The MSO is hoping to acquire the site in fall 2017. The project is part of a $120 million MSO fundraising campaign that would also raise bridge financing and increase the organization’s general endowment. The MSO brought in $17 million in revenue during its 2015-2016 season. The symphony’s 80 full-time musicians perform more than 135 concerts each season. The orchestra currently performs at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts on North Water Street. The 12-story Warner Grand Theatre is situated on West Wisconsin Avenue. The MSO is the only major orchestra in the nation without control over its own performance venue, according to the MSO’s president and executive director. The Art Deco-style theater was built in 1931 and was last occupied …
Detroit’s sustained employment growth, along with focused redevelopment and revitalization efforts, have brightened the metro area’s economic outlook and propelled the retail market this year. Six consecutive years of job gains have attracted new residents to the region and stemmed population outflow. Strong hiring trends have boosted household incomes, and retail sales are ascending as a result. The local economy is expected to create 38,000 new jobs in 2016, representing a 1.9 percent annual expansion. The local unemployment rate stood at 4.9 percent in August, the lowest rate since 2001 and just 10 basis points higher than the national level. The professional and business services sector led employment gains over the 12-month period that ended June 30 with nearly 12,000 additional workers hired. Ripple effect of jobs growth The abundance of job opportunities is also contributing to higher household incomes. Over the 12-month period that ended Sept. 30, roughly 7,500 households were created and the median household income climbed 3.1 percent. These improvements supported a 1.3 percent hike in retail spending over the same period. Encouraged by the positive economic trends in Detroit, retailers are expanding many existing storefronts, while companies such as Nike and restaurants such as Cheesecake Factory, …
As we near the end of 2016, we also mark another strong year for the San Antonio retail market. In fact, the market is strong enough that we can retire the word recovery and replace it with expansion. Expansion, in a nutshell, means that the retail market has not only matched the pre-recession occupancy level of 92 percent, it has exceeded it. San Antonio currently boasts a healthy occupancy rate of 94 percent, even as key vacancies from Sports Authority came onto the market during the past year. The Alamo City is able to maintain the balance due to the fact that vacancy added by the sporting goods retailer was offset by fully leased construction and the backfilling of major retail box spaces. The Weitzman Group currently reviews approximately 45 million square feet of retail inventory in San Antonio centers with 25,000 square feet or more. Like the retail market, San Antonio’s economy also continues to grow, based on solid population and job growth. The metro area market, as of September 2016, reports an unemployment rate of 4.1 percent. This is well below the country’s rate of 4.8 percent, according to the Texas Workforce Commission. The metro area also ranks …
BOISE, IDAHO — National Asset Services (NAS) has been named as management consultant for BODO, an urban retail asset located in the downtown city center of Boise. BODO, which opened in 2007, is located on Broad Street between Capitol Boulevard and 9th Street. The 130,000-square-foot development features an Edward’s, theater complex, P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Office Depot, Urban Outfitters, White House Black Market, Ann Taylor LOFT, Jos. A. Bank, Five Guys Burgers and Fries, Meraki Greek Street Food and Idaho Trust Bank, among other tenants.