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Buying and Selling: $1B Retail Investment Push, Western Canada Growth and a $122M Sale
Whole Foods Eyes Hundreds of Daily Shops and Loblaw Accelerates Store Growth
Korean Eyewear Brand Blue Elephant Enters U.S. With 7K-SF Beverly Hills Flagship
ICSC@FLORIDA Takeaways: Put AI and Data to Work and Don’t Neglect Relationships
Fitness, Grocery and Off-Price Are Reshaping the Retail Anchor Mix, Placer.ai Says
Fort Henry Mall Leans Into Entertainment With IMAX and 55K-SF Tiebreakers
Shell Will More Than Double U.S. Company-Owned Convenience Portfolio With Tri Star Deal
Blackstone and URW Name New Real Estate Leaders

Frontier Realty Group Kicks Off $1B+ Retail Investment Platform With $75.5M Buy

Frontier Realty Group has launched a $1 billion-plus retail real estate buying spree, Commercial Property Executive reported. The first deal for Frontier, a joint venture between Wharton Realty Group and KSR Capital, is its $75.5 million purchase of Miracle Mile Shopping Center in Monroeville, Pennsylvania. Alto Real Estate Funds and M & J Wilkow sold the fully occupied 302,000-square-foot property, according to Commercial Property Executive. Frontier recently set up an investment platform that aims for more than $1 billion in open-air retail acquisitions over an 18-month span. The JV said it’s on track to close two more acquisitions by the end of 2026.

Westcliff Returns to Western Canada With 880K-SF Kingsway Mall Acquisition

Montreal-based developer and investor Westcliff is open to scooping up more retail properties in Western Canada following its recent purchase of the more than 880,000-square-foot Kingsway Mall in Edmonton, Alberta. Westcliff bought it from Oxford Properties for an undisclosed price. Westcliff vice president Adam Marcovitz told Retail Insider that Kingsway’s location, accessibility, tenant mix and customer base provide a solid foundation for the company’s return to the region. Although Westcliff is prepared to buy more properties in the western part of the country, he said, “the goal is not simply to add properties to our portfolio, but to invest in places that have real purpose, strong market relevance and room to evolve.” With the Kingsway acquisition, Westcliff’s Canadian retail portfolio comprises 23 properties.

Nuveen Sells 722K-SF Chicago-Area Power Center for $122M

Asset manager Nuveen sold the Village Crossing regional power center in Skokie, Illinois, to Fairbourne Properties for $122 million. Crain’s Chicago Business reported it was one of the Chicago area’s biggest property sales in recent years. The 722,457-square-foot retail center, which opened in 1989, has 69 tenants including Dick’s Sporting Goods, Best Buy, AMC Theatres, Michaels, OfficeMax, Barnes & Noble and PetSmart.

Whole Foods CEO Sees Room for Hundreds of Daily Shop Locations

Two years after introducing its Daily Shop format, Whole Foods Market CEO Jason Buechel envisions opening hundreds of the mini-stores as part of his 10-year vision for the grocer. Whole Foods now operates 12 Daily Shop stores — six in the U.S. and six in London. The stores are a small-format, on-the-go alternative to Whole Foods’ typical 40,000- to 45,000-square-foot stores, Buechel said on Yahoo Finance’s Power Players with Brian Sozzi podcast. “What we’ve done is taken the very best of Whole Foods and condensed it down into something closer to a 9,000- to 12,000-square-foot experience,” said Buechel, adding that Daily Shop stores put Whole Foods “closer to where our customers are.” The format seeks locations in dense neighborhoods. Buechel, who shared his 10-year vision in 2023, said the small format enables the grocery chain to open stores where a large-format Whole Foods wouldn’t fit, such as a college campus. In May, the grocer said it will open Daily Shop locations in three new markets over the next two years: Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia.

Loblaw Raises 2026 Opening Target to About 75 Grocery Stores and Pharmacies

Canada’s Loblaw Cos. is speeding up the addition of new grocery stores and pharmacies, Supermarket News reported. Loblaw said it expects to open about 75 new locations in fiscal year 2026, up from an earlier forecast of about 70. At the same time, Loblaw Cos. is renovating 190 existing stores and developing new store formats and concepts. As of Sept. 1, Loblaw Cos. had opened 38 new grocery stores and pharmacies in Canada this year. Supermarket News said the company’s grocery expansion focuses primarily on the low-cost No Frills and Maxi banners. Loblaw Cos.’ current fiscal year ends on Dec. 31. The company has more than 2,400 stores, predominantly in Canada.

MORE FROM C+CT: Asian Retail Brands Are Chasing Space in the U.S. Here’s How They’re Setting Up Shop

AI Becomes an Everyday Business Tool for Retail Real Estate

In today’s environment, AI and data are major anchors of the Marketplaces Industry, not supporting functions. That was among the key takeaways from sessions at ICSC@FLORIDA, held Aug. 31-Sept. 1 in Orlando. In a published recap of the event, Colliers South Florida research manager Haley Boatright and national research manager Nicole Larson said AI surfaced in nearly every conversation at the conference. “One common theme was that AI is becoming less of a future concept and more of an everyday business tool,” they said. AI won’t replace industry expertise, they added, but it will become more essential to how that expertise is applied. “Professionals who learn to leverage these tools effectively will have a meaningful advantage.” As for data, Boatright and Larson said it’s become the driving force behind major investment and leasing decisions. “The quality and accessibility of real-time data have transformed the deal-making process from relying on subjective ‘gut checks’ to data-driven strategies.”

Networking Expert: Follow-Up Is 80% of Building and Maintaining Relationships

Retail real estate runs on relationships, not just deals. But networking guru Julie Brown told attendees during an ICSC@FLORIDA keynote that many professionals lose the relationship before it ever pays off. “Eighty percent of building and maintaining relationships is just following up, and people are bad at it,” said Brown, a networking coach, author and podcast host. “They assume it’s the other person’s job or they’re afraid of rejection. Get over it.” To rev up professional networking, Brown advised sending a brief email or LinkedIn message to somebody you meet at an event within 24 hours. “Get good at following up, and you’ll blow your competition away,” she said. “One study found 78% of new graduates who attend networking events in their first year never follow up with anyone. This industry is your future — you have to follow up.”

Fitness, Grocery and Off-Price Are Reshaping the Retail Anchor Mix, Placer.ai Says

Historically dominant department store, apparel and soft goods anchors are ceding ground to a “next generation” ecosystem of mostly niche retailers, according to a new report. This ecosystem includes fitness, wellness, coffee, grocery and off-price concepts, according to The New Tenant Mix Playbook, published by location data provider Placer.ai. Fitness concepts, in particular, are gaining ground on traditional anchors, according to the report. “Landlords should look beyond square footage and traditional anchor status and evaluate tenants based on metrics like visit frequency, traffic growth, e-commerce risk and dwell time — with the strongest mixes combining categories that bring different strengths to the center,” the report advised.

Shell Will More Than Double U.S. Company-Owned Convenience Portfolio With Tri Star Deal

Oil and gas giant Shell has supersized its U.S. portfolio of company-owned convenience stores. Equilon Enterprises, doing business as Shell Oil Products U.S., has agreed to increase its ownership of Tri Star Energy from 33% to 100%. Tri Star operates 320 fuel and convenience retail sites in Tennessee and surrounding states. Once the deal closes, Texas Petroleum Group, a subsidiary of Shell Mobility & Convenience U.S., will operate Tri Star Energy, and the portfolio of Shell Mobility & Convenience U.S. will total nearly 550 company-owned retail sites.

Blackstone Names 2 Global Co-Heads of Real Estate

Asset management powerhouse Blackstone has promoted two executives to global co-heads of real estate, The Wall Street Journal reported. David Levine was head of Blackstone’s real estate group in the Americas, and Giovanni Cutaia was president of the real estate business. They succeed Nadeem Meghji, who is stepping down as global head of real estate for personal reasons, WSJ reported.

URW Promotes Geoff Mason to COO of U.S. Business

Retail owner, developer and operator Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield has named Geoffrey Mason its new COO for the U.S., the company said in a LinkedIn post. Mason brings more than 15 years of industry experience to the job, including U.S. executive vice president of asset management and development at URW. At URW, he led redevelopment projects at Westfield Garden State Plaza, Westfield Old Orchard and Westfield Topanga. URW’s portfolio includes 14 Westfield properties in the U.S. In a LinkedIn post, Mason wrote that one of his goals in his new role is “to elevate our assets well beyond iconic retail destinations.”