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$1B Joint Venture Will Build East Coast Grocery-Anchored Centers With Multifamily Components
Walmart Will Redevelop Pennsylvania Mall Into 780,000-SF Mixed-Use Destination
2 Major Sun Belt Developments Hit Milestones in Phoenix and Tampa
2 Big Moves Reflect Active C-Store Investment
Francine the Cat’s Cross-State Journey Highlights Retail-Industrial Link
$1B Joint Venture Will Build East Coast Grocery-Anchored Centers With Multifamily Components
A $1 billion joint venture between commercial real estate developer SJC Ventures and an unidentified insurance company is pursuing construction of retail centers anchored by organic grocers in affluent East Coast markets. Luxury apartments will be built adjacent to most of the retail properties.
MORE FROM C+CT: How Retail and Multifamily Work Together
The JV has closed on construction financing for two Whole Foods Market-anchored “seed” projects. Truist has loaned $44 million to build the 121,602-square-foot Shops at Broadcasting District near Reading, Pennsylvania, and $69 million to build the adjacent 341-unit Residences at Broadcasting District. And Seacoast Bank has provided a $30 million loan to build the 76,000-square-foot Wesley Chapel Station north of Tampa, Florida.
Whole Foods Market will anchor two retail centers that a joint venture plans to build in Florida and Pennsylvania. Photo above and at top courtesy of Whole Foods Market
Additional projects are on the drawing board in Florida, Georgia, Maryland and Virginia. An equity investment of $300 million will kick off the JV, whose development pipeline boasts a projected capitalization of $1 billion. Cushman & Wakefield recruited the insurance company as SJC’s JV partner.
Walmart Will Redevelop Pennsylvania Mall Into 780,000-SF Mixed-Use Destination
Fresh details are emerging about the future of the Pennsylvania mall that big-box retailer Walmart purchased in February for $34 million. In an application for a $7.5 million state grant, the Walmart affiliate that bought Monroeville Mall indicated it wants to demolish the property, the Pittsburgh Business Times reported.
Monroeville Mall in October 2010, six years after CBL acquired it Photo: Avicennasis, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The grant application shows the 186-acre, 1.2 million-square-foot mall would be replaced with a mixed-use project offering 780,000 square feet of retail, dining and entertainment space, according to The New York Times. David Wang, who owns a steakhouse/sushi bar at the mall, told the paper that he and other tenants have an April 2027 deadline to vacate the mall. He added that tenants have been told the site will be turned into an open-air center with a Walmart, a Sam’s Club and other stores, as well as restaurants and a skating rink.
The project is expected to be finished in 2029, according to the grant application cited by The New York Times.
MORE FROM C+CT: Dillard’s and Trademark Buy Texas Mall
Happy Halloween! Monroeville Mall was the setting for George Romero’s classic 1978 horror film Dawn of the Dead. Photo credit/copyright: All Star Picture Library and Dawn Associates
2 Major Sun Belt Developments Hit Milestones in Phoenix and Tampa
Last year, real estate investment manager Clarion Partners declared the 18-state Sun Belt region is experiencing a commercial real estate boom, thanks largely to significant population growth. Two massive projects there are prime examples. In Arizona, a developer has nailed down a big-box anchor and two hotels as tenants for a more than 2,300-acre mixed-use development going up in Phoenix. And in Florida, construction of a 785-acre mixed-use project is underway near Tampa.
Costco Will Anchor $7B Halo Vista Project in Phoenix
Costco is the first big-box retail tenant that has agreed to lease space at Halo Vista, a more than 2,300-acre mixed-use development that’ll surround the $165 billion, 1,100-acre Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. campus in Phoenix.
Photo credit: mandritoiu - stock.adobe.com
In addition to Costco, a joint venture between Mack Real Estate Group and McCourt Partners has lured two hotels — a Courtyard by Marriott and a Residence Inn by Marriott — and an auto mall to the more than $7 billion master-planned project. The Mack-McCourt partnership touts Halo Vista as a “city within a city” and a “global innovation hub.” At buildout, the development is expected to feature nearly 30 million square feet of industrial, retail, hospitality, residential, office, research and healthcare space.
MORE FROM C+CT: Costco Plans 30 New Stores in the Next Year
Hines Breaks Ground on 785-Acre Kinfield Mixed-Use Community Near Tampa, Florida
Construction is underway on a 785-acre, mixed-use, master-planned development in fast-growing Pasco County, Florida, part of the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro area. Hines has teamed up with landowner Krusen-Douglas on the project, called Kinfield. The development can accommodate up to 3 million square feet of industrial, 500,000 square feet of office, 190,000 square feet of commercial space, 1,550 apartments and townhomes, 600 single-family detached homes and a 250-room hotel.
Hines and Krusen-Douglas recently broke ground on the 785-acre mixed-use Kinfield in Pasco County, Florida. Photo courtesy of Hines
Infrastructure for Kinfield’s first phase should be completed in the second quarter of 2026, Hines said. “Kinfield represents a rare opportunity to deliver a true mixed-use employment center in one of Tampa’s fastest-growing corridors, creating a new opportunity for placemaking in Pasco County,” said Hines senior managing director Lane Gardner.
FROM THE C+CT ARCHIVE: A Rare Mixed-Use Greenfield Development Will Serve Up Retail, Residential and More to the Orlando Area’s Growing Population
2 Big Moves Reflect Active C-Store Investment
A net lease REIT has acquired a dozen convenience stores in the Houston area, and a c-store chain plots an expansion. According to the 2025 NACS/NIQ TDLinx Convenience Industry Store Count, foodservice and merchandise sales at U.S. c-stores hit $335.5 billion in 2024, a record high even as the number of c-stores held steady throughout the year. That new benchmark highlights the appeal of c-store investments.
Getty Realty Acquires 12 Houston C-Stores in $100M Sale-Leaseback Deal
Getty Realty Corp. has purchased a dozen Now and Forever c-stores in the Houston area in a $100 million sale-leaseback. The stores average more than 8,000 square feet. The acquisition includes an initial 15-year term with several renewal options, along with a built-in rent increase every five years.
In a sale-leaseback, Getty Realty Corp. bought a dozen Now and Forever convenience stores in the Houston area. Photo courtesy of Getty Realty Corp.
Now and Forever operates 23 locations in the Houston area and has two in the pipeline. Year to date, Getty Realty has invested $233 million in c-stores and automotive stores at a 7.9% cash yield. As of June 30, the net lease REIT’s portfolio comprised 1,137 freestanding U.S. properties.
Dash In To Triple Store Count by 2030, Bolstered by $146M Carolinas Expansion
Convenience store chain Dash In is experiencing a growth spurt. It plans to triple its footprint by 2030, opening 10 to 15 stores per year, the Charlotte Business Journal reported. This includes a $146 million, 16-store expansion that’s underway in the Carolinas. Each of those stores will measure 5,600 square feet, according to the publication. Dash In currently operates 57 stores in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.
Dash In is on track to open 10 to 15 new stores per year by 2030. Photo courtesy of Dash In
Dash In said its restaurant-quality food sets it apart from competitors. “Dash In’s foodservice takes center stage, offering an elevated dining experience that rivals casual restaurants while still providing the convenience and speed of a traditional [convenience] store,” Wills Group president and CEO Blackie Wills told C+CT. The Wills Group, one of the country’s largest Shell oil distributors, owns Dash In, which was founded in 1979.
MORE FROM C+CT: 7-Eleven Parent Eyes $13B Investment, Including To Expand Fresh Food in U.S. and Canada
Francine the Cat’s Cross-State Journey Highlights Retail-Industrial Link
A feline named Francine has reminded us that the various commercial real estate property types aren’t silos. According to a WTVR CBS story, Francine lives in a Richmond, Virginia, Lowe’s store but inadvertently hitched a ride more than two weeks ago on a truck headed to a 1.4 million-square-foot distribution center in Garysburg, North Carolina.
Her saga, which ended happily on Monday morning, isn’t exactly what the C+CT team had in mind last year when we published a series on the intersections of retail real estate and other commercial real estate property types, but Francine’s example holds up.
Revisit the Cross-Sector Series
How Retail and Industrial Work Together
How Retail and Multifamily Work Together
How Retail and Office Work Together
How Retail and Hotel Work Together
—Additional reporting by C+CT editor-in-chief Amanda Metcalf
By John Egan
Contributor, Commerce + Communities Today