A $1.7B Retail REIT Buyout, U.S.’s First Outdoor Shopping Center Set for $1.5B Mixed-Use Redo, Another Bed Bath & Beyond Buy and More

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Ares Agrees To Take Whitestone Private in a $1.7B Deal
Kansas City’s Country Club Plaza Positioned for $1.5B Mixed-Use Transformation
Bed Bath & Beyond Strikes $150M Deal for Lumber Liquidators Parent
Sale of 98 Planet Fitness Locations and Crunch’s Expansion Signal Fitness Sector’s Strength
Sheetz Plans $1B Indiana Entry as Yesway Targets 130 New Stores
Andrea Drasites Will Lead MetLife Investment Management’s $109B Real Estate and Agricultural Portfolio
Long Island Developer Wilbur Breslin Has Passed Away at 99

Ares Agrees To Take Whitestone Private in a $1.7B Deal

Alternative investment manager Ares Management has agreed to buy publicly traded Whitestone REIT — which develops, owns and operates convenience-oriented retail properties — in an all-cash deal valued at $1.7 billion. As of March 31, Whitestone’s portfolio comprised 56 retail centers spanning 4.9 million square feet in Phoenix and in Texas’ four major markets: Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter.

Ares’ proposed acquisition of Whitestone culminates months of speculation about a potential sale of the REIT. MCB Real Estate unsuccessfully made three unsolicited bids for Whitestone, the most recent valued at a little over $1.4 billion, the Baltimore Business Journal reported. Whitestone rejected the first two offers and never responded to the third. Over the years, Whitestone has faced pressure from shareholders to shore up its finances and even take the company private, according to Reuters. Just last month, Reuters reported private equity firms Blackstone and TPG had shown interest in acquiring Whitestone.

For fiscal year 2025, which ended on Dec. 31, Whitestone reported revenue of $160.9 million and same-store net operating income growth of 4%. As of Dec. 31, the real estate business of publicly traded Ares had about $113.8 billion in assets under management. Necessity-based retail is an investment focus of Ares’ real estate arm.

MORE FROM C+CT: First Washington Realty CEO: Neighborhood Retail Demand Is Surging

Kansas City’s Country Club Plaza Positioned for $1.5B Mixed-Use Transformation

Kansas City, Missouri’s Spanish-architecture-influenced Country Club Plaza, considered the country’s first outdoor shopping center, is in line for a $1.5 billion makeover. The new owner of the Plaza, which is dogged by sagging infrastructure and a roughly 33% vacancy rate for retail and offices, envisions building 750 apartments and possibly condos, at least 645,000 square feet of office and 278 hotel rooms, The New York Times reported. The NYT mentions no changes for the 732,000 square feet of retail at the 1 million-square-foot shopping, dining and residential property, which opened in 1923.

Gillon Property Group, a real estate investor and developer formerly known as Highland Park Village Associates, bought the Country Club Plaza in 2024 for $175.6 million. That’s well short of the $660 million Taubman and Macerich paid in 2016, according to the NYT. Gillon’s portfolio consists of more than 14 million square feet of mixed-use, retail, hospitality, multifamily and office.

Bed Bath & Beyond Strikes $150M Deal for Lumber Liquidators Parent

Just a week after announcing its proposed $150 million purchase of The Container Store, Bed Bath & Beyond has agreed to acquire the parent company of Lumber Liquidators for $150 million in cash and stock. By scooping up F9 Brands, Bed Bath & Beyond will add Lumber Liquidators to its portfolio, along with Cabinets To Go, Gracious Home/Thos. Baker and Southwind Building Products. Lumber Liquidators operates more than 200 flooring stores in the U.S., while Cabinets To Go operates more than 100 cabinet stores and Southwind supplies flooring and building materials to a network of 4,400 independent retailers and contractors.

Bed Bath & Beyond said the deal will bulk up its home services platform, called Beyond Home Services, whose offerings will include storage products, closets, cabinets and flooring, as well as product installation, renovation and distribution. Beyond Home Services also will include The Container Store, whose locations will share branding with Bed Bath & Beyond; closet, shelving and storage systems provider Elfa; and home storage and organization designer, manufacturer and installer Closet Works.

F9 generated net sales of about $522 million in fiscal year 2025. The deal is expected to close after Bed Bath & Beyond’s annual shareholder meeting in May. Lumber Liquidators CEO Jason Delves will assume the same role at Beyond Home Services.

Sale of 98 Planet Fitness Locations and Crunch’s Expansion Signal Fitness Sector’s Strength

Restaurant and gym franchisee Flynn Group purchased Grand Fitness Partners, a franchisee with 98 Planet Fitness locations, from private investment firms HGGC and Monogram Capital Partners. The gyms span California, Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia. The Grand Fitness acquisition brings Flynn’s Planet Fitness count to 141 locations in seven states, according to Club Solutions. Flynn also owns Applebee’s, Arby’s, Panera, Pizza Hut, 7 Brew, Taco Bell and Wendy’s franchises. In February, before the Flynn Group deal, Planet Fitness said it planned to add 180 to 190 locations this year.

Thus far this year, Crunch announced 27 gym openings this year in the U.S. at a cost exceeding $70 million. These new locations will encompass more than 600,000 square feet. The chain plans to open about 100 gyms around the world this year after opening 61 in 2024 and 91 in 2025. Crunch leased almost 4.3 million square feet last year, up 48% from 2024. It operates more than 550 gyms in the U.S., Australia, Canada, Costa Rica and India.

Crunch franchisee CR Fitness Holdings is fueling some of the chain’s growth. Last year, CR Fitness Holdings secured $350 million in equity from investment firm Sixth Street that will help finance its five-year strategy to open more than 100 new gyms in the U.S. As of late March, the franchisee operated 93 U.S. gyms and is on track for 110 by the end of 2026.

Sheetz Plans $1B Indiana Entry as Yesway Targets 130 New Stores

Convenience store chain Sheetz plans to invest nearly $1 billion to open 100 locations in Indiana over the next 10 years, marking its entry into the Hoosier State. Today, Sheetz operates more than 830 stores in Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. It’s shooting for a U.S. store count of 1,000 by 2028, according to C-Store Dive.

A convenience store operator that’s going public has set its sights on significant growth. In initial public offering paperwork filed late last month with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Yesway laid out plans to add about 130 new stores over the next five years. The company is targeting six to eight new stores this year at a cost of $40 million to $50 million. As of late March, Yesway operated 449 c-stores in nine Midwestern and Southwestern states. The 11-year-old company, owned by private equity firm Brookwood, operates c-stores under the Yesway and Allsup’s brands. Proceeds from Yesway’s pending IPO, which IPO research firm Renaissance Capital said might raise $300 million, could help fuel the 130-store expansion.

MORE FROM C+CT: 7-Eleven Parent Eyes $13B Investment, Including To Expand Fresh Food in U.S. and Canada

Andrea Drasites Will Lead MetLife Investment Management’s $109B Real Estate and Agricultural Portfolio

Andrea Drasites will join MetLife Investment Management as global head of real estate and agricultural finance, effective Oct. 1. She’ll succeed Robert Merck, who retired last year. Drasites is coming to MIM from alternative asset manager Blackstone, where she most recently was senior managing director of the real estate group. In her new role, Drasites will lead MIM’s commercial mortgage and equity real estate portfolio, as well as its agricultural investment portfolio. MIM’s real estate portfolio had $108.9 billion in gross real estate and agricultural assets under management as of Dec. 31. Drasites sits on the ICSC Foundation board of directors, is a former member of ICSC’s executive board and was a member of ICSC’s 4 Under 40 class in 2016.

Long Island Developer Wilbur Breslin Has Passed Away at 99

Long Island, New York, commercial real estate developer Wilbur Breslin passed away on April 1 at age 99. Breslin launched his real estate career in 1953. As chair and CEO of Breslin Realty Development Corp., he played a major role in the transformation of Long Island’s retail real estate sector and was an early developer of strip centers. During his career, he oversaw the development of 30 retail centers and 12 residential communities and the management of more than 10 million square feet. Survivors include his son, Breslin Realty president Kenneth Breslin, and his grandson Justin Breslin, a vice president at the company.