$5.6B in Capital Moves, Family Dollar Tests Smaller Stores, Costco Expands Standalone Gas Stations and More

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3 Big-Money Moves: Financing, a JV Investment and a Fund-Raise Total $5.6B
Family Dollar Experiments With Smaller Stores and Costco Builds Standalone Gas Stations
Perform Properties’ Matthew Vender Has Passed Away at 28

3 Big-Money Moves: Financing, a JV Investment and a Fund-Raise Total $5.6B

A mixed-use development in Beverly Hills, California, secured a record-setting $4.3 billion in financing; Apollo made a $1 billion bet on a single-tenant net lease joint venture; and Nuveen Real Estate collected $330 million for a fund to acquire necessity-based retail properties.

$10B Beverly Hills Mixed-Use Project Secures $4.3B Financing

It’s the largest of its kind in U.S. history, according to Real Capital Analytics and Newmark: a $4.3 billion construction loan package for Southern California’s One Beverly Hills mixed-use project. The financing — the biggest-ever for construction, excluding data centers — consists of a $2.8 billion senior loan from JPMorganChase and a $1.5 billion mezzanine loan from Vici Properties. The mixed-use development will cost about $10 billion to build, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Investment firm Cain and asset manager Eldridge are developing One Beverly Hills, described as an “urban oasis.” The 17.5-acre project, scheduled to deliver in 2028, will feature retail, hospitality, wellness and leisure amenities throughout 10 acres of botanical gardens and open space. The Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills, a refurbished Beverly Hilton and the new Aman Beverly Hills hotel, residences and private club will anchor the development. Tenants that have committed include luxury apparel brand Dolce & Gabbana, Italian restaurant Casa Tua Cucina and indoor-outdoor Mexican-Japanese restaurant Los Mochis.

Apollo’s $1B Deal With Realty Income Signals Private Capital Shift in Net Lease

Alternative asset manager Apollo’s $1 billion acquisition of a 49% stake in 500 Realty Income properties represents confidence in the country’s single-tenant and net lease retail markets, two experts said. SLB Capital Advisors managing partner Scott Merkle, whose firm specializes in sale-leasebacks, said the Apollo-Realty Income joint venture signals that large, publicly traded net lease REITs are increasing their reliance on private capital to spur growth. That marks “a structural shift with long-term implications for the sector,” he said. “As cost of capital remains a key differentiator, structures like this will continue to reshape how real estate is financed across both public and private platforms.” The deal continues a deepening exposure among major alternative asset managers — including Apollo, Ares, Blue Owl and KKR — to the sale-leaseback and net lease markets, Merkle added.

The Boulder Group president Randy Blankstein, whose firm brokers net lease transactions, echoed Merkle’s observations. He said the deal demonstrates the blurring lines between public REITs and private institutional investors. “Realty Income is essentially creating a new capital channel outside the traditional equity market,” Blankstein told C+CT. “For the nation’s largest net lease REIT to bring in a $1 billion partner for a 49% stake in a 500-property retail portfolio is validation that private capital managers now view net lease as a core allocation, not an alternative.” Blankstein said the $1 billion commitment by Apollo, “one of the savviest institutional capital allocators in the world,” to a pool of single-tenant retail properties “says everything about the durability of the net lease model.”

Realty Income will continue to manage the JV portfolio of 500 properties. The five sectors with the largest shares of total annualized base rent in Realty Income’s 15,500-property U.S. and European portfolio as of Dec. 31 were:

1. dollar stores at 9.9%
2. quick-service restaurants at 8.3%
3. drugstores at 7.9%
4. grocery stores at 7.7%
5. health and fitness at 7.5%

Nuveen Real Estate Raises $330M From Australia for U.S. Necessity Retail

Investment manager Nuveen Real Estate, an arm of financial services provider TIAA, has raised $330 million from three Australian retirement funds for a fund that acquires necessity-based retail properties in the U.S. The biggest commitment, $250 million, came from Australia’s Retail Employees Superannuation Trust retirement fund. Nuveen’s 8-year-old U.S. Cities Retail Fund helps fuel the company’s retail platform, which manages $8 billion in assets. Last year, the fund raised $320 million from institutional investors. A Nuveen spokesperson said the company envisions the fund eventually reaching $2 billion to $3 billion, adding that close to 20 properties are in the Nuveen retail fund’s nearly 2 million-square-foot portfolio or in its purchase pipeline.

Family Dollar Experiments With Smaller Stores and Costco Builds Standalone Gas Stations

Family Dollar plans to roll out its smaller-format stores fully next year, and Costco is preparing to open its first standalone U.S. gas station in Southern California.

Family Dollar Tests ‘Extra Small Box’ Format in Urban Markets

Less than a year after Dollar Tree sold it for $1 billion, Family Dollar is experimenting with a smaller format for high-density urban markets. The discount retailer said it will start testing the new “extra small box” concept this year and plans to roll out the format in 2027. Family Dollar, which generated revenue of about $13 billion in 2025, operates more than 8,000 stores in the U.S. Family Dollar offered no details on the square footage of the small-box stores or the planned store count. 

Costco Builds Standalone Gas Stations To Fuel Growth Beyond the Warehouse

Membership-only warehouse chain Costco, which recorded net sales of $270 billion in fiscal year 2025, is pumping up its gas business. Its first standalone gas station is scheduled to open by late June in the Los Angeles suburb of Mission Viejo, and a second is on track to open next year in Honolulu, CSP reported. The 40-pump Mission Viejo station won’t include a convenience store, according to Fortune, and it appears the Honolulu station won’t either. As part of the Mission Viejo project, a 35,020-square-foot former Bed Bath & Beyond faced the wrecking ball.

C-Store Dive suggested Costco’s members-only Mission Viejo and Honolulu stations may indicate a “strategic shift,” although the retailer hasn’t revealed long-term plans for the concept. As of Aug. 31, the end of its 2025 fiscal year, Costco operated 914 warehouse stores around the world; 747 of those had gas stations. About half of members who fill up at a Costco gas station also shop at the adjacent store, executive vice president and CFO Gary Millerchip said on the company’s earnings call for the second quarter of fiscal year 2026. Costco’s gas business made up about 10% of net sales, or roughly $27 billion, in fiscal year 2025.

Perform Properties’ Matthew Vender Has Passed Away at 28

Matthew Vender, retail leasing director for real estate platform Perform Properties, died on Dec. 29, in Voorhees, New Jersey. The 28-year-old was the son of David Vender, an executive vice president at Brixmor.