Site Centers has been keeping brokers busy. The REIT, which owns and manages open-air centers, recently offloaded more than five properties in deals collectively valued at almost $325 million. This comes on the heels of nearly $1 billion in property sales from July 2023 to July 2024.
These deals coincide with Site Centers’ just-completed spinoff of Curbline Properties. Curbline is now a publicly traded standalone REIT specializing in “convenience” shopping centers; the 78 properties in Curbline’s portfolio lack grocery stores or big-box stores as anchors.
Here are details on the five properties recently sold by Site Centers:
• A fund affiliated with the Sterling Organization retail REIT paid $180.5 million for a three-property portfolio owned by Site Centers. The properties are Fairfax Towne Center in Fairfax, Virginia; Presidential Commons in Snellville, Georgia; and Village at Stone Oak in San Antonio.
• Paramount Realty purchased Hamilton Marketplace, a grocery-anchored regional power center in Hamilton Township, New Jersey, from Site Centers for more than $100 million.
• An unidentified buyer acquired a freestanding, 57,218-square-foot Whole Foods in Oakland, California, from Site Centers for $44.4 million. Twelve years remain on Whole Foods’ lease.
JLL Capital Markets arranged Site Centers’ sale of the Whole Foods Bay Place in Oakland, California.
Site Centers president and CEO David Lukes said the REIT had closed $951 million in sales of wholly owned properties in the 12 months through July and at that time had more than $1.8 billion worth of property sales in the pipeline. He said these deals and continued lease and asset management are meant to boost the value of Site Centers’ portfolio.
Ground Has Broken for Fender’s HQ at a Former Phoenix Mall
The former Paradise Valley Mall in Phoenix is playing a new tune. Red Development broke ground Sept. 30 on the Arizona headquarters of Fender, the world’s largest manufacturer of guitars. The three-story, 77,000-square-foot Fender facility will open in 2025 at PV, the more than $2 billion mixed-use redevelopment of the former mall, which opened in 1978 and closed in 2021.
Fender will maintain its Los Angeles headquarters, and the Arizona headquarters is moving from the Phoenix suburb of Scottsdale to PV. Fender says its building at PV will be a “dynamic hub for collaboration” boasting a shop for guitar and amplifier designers, a sound room, a cafe, meeting rooms and flexible workspaces. “Our goal [is] to create an environment that will continue to foster Fender’s culture of innovation, collaboration and growth and act as a magnet for future generations of talent,” said Fender CEO Andy Mooney.
Flower Child became PV’s first tenant last week. Others coming aboard during the first phase will be Whole Foods, Sephora, European Wax Center and Hammer & Nails, which is marketed as “a grooming shop for guys.” A 400-unit apartment complex also is included in the first phase.
Simon Carts Out a Campaign Highlighting ‘Mall Culture’
Is the mall dead? Not according to Simon, the largest owner of retail centers in the U.S. A new ad campaign from Simon insists that the American mall is very much alive and well.
The Meet Me @themall campaign targets Gen Z shoppers and features 1980s and ’90s nostalgia. Simon said the campaign blends “Gen Z’s love of shopping and all things retro with the enduring generational relevance of the mall,” and the company cited ICSC’s Rise of the Gen Z Consumer report.
“The mall is a touchstone of the American cultural experience — one with remarkable staying power,” Simon chief marketing officer Lee Sterling said. “Celebrating the spirit of meetups in the food court, memories made with friends and coming-of-age moments, this new campaign is Simon’s invitation for everyone to gather in a place that has always brought joy, community and memorable experiences.”
You’ll catch the campaign on streaming services like Disney+, Hulu, Netflix and Peacock, as well as Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. Simon also rolled out @themall social media channels on Instagram and TikTok. Social media influencers like Alejandro Rosario, The Pitman Sisters, Gym Tan, Mya Miller, Preshous Jordan and Dan Pelosi star in the campaign’s marquee ad.
While some have dismissed the word “mall” as being out of style, Simon is celebrating it. So, too, has CBL, which in 2022 launched a marketing campaign with the tagline “Meet us at the mall.” CBL CEO Stephen Lebovitz explained in the C+CT story Is the Term “Mall” Making a Comeback?: “We felt like we had been almost running away from the term for so long, trying to come up with clever ways to describe our properties. Yet our customers still called us ‘the mall.’”
To Be Determined: 3 Situations to Watch
Here are couple recent developments that promise to impact the Marketplaces Industry:
• Commercial real estate services powerhouse JLL is boosting its proptech capabilities. It has inked a deal to buy Raise, an eight-year-old brokerage that offers cloud-based leasing technology. JLL said the cloud-based application helps clients and their advisers integrate at every stage of the leasing life cycle, from transaction and lease management to workplace and portfolio analytics.
• CVS Health is looking at splitting the company into two pieces — pharmacies and insurance — as a way to “build shareholder value.” Reuters reported that such a breakup would undo CVS’s $70 billion acquisition of health insurance provider Aetna in 2017.
• Non-traded REIT Inland Real Estate Income Trust’s board is reviewing options that include the sale of the company. It has been working toward “a portfolio of grocery-anchored properties with lower exposure to big-box retailers,” according to a press release.
Step Aside, Art Galleries: Saks Is Selling Fine Art
The Saks Fifth Avenue retail chain is painting its luxury offerings with a broader brush. In its stores and on its website, the retailer now sells limited-edition prints from several notable artists, according to Retail TouchPoints. Saks hopes to be “a destination for fine art.” Its stores in New York City; New Jersey; Chicago; Houston; San Francisco; Beverly Hills, California; Miami; and Boca Raton, Florida are among those where fine art will be sold. “Appealing to both art enthusiasts and collectors alike, Saks is opening a new door for artists to reach a luxury audience,” said chief merchandising officer Tracy Margolies.
By John Egan
Contributor, Commerce + Communities Today