US$7B Merger in Canada, 1M-SF Open-Air Trade in Texas, 225K SF of Ground-Up Development in Colorado, Mixed-Use Mall Redevelopment in Maryland and More

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Canada’s Choice Properties and KingSett Capital Will Acquire Retail REIT First Capital in US$6.9B Deal
$600M Sterling Organization Fund Acquires 1.1M SF of Retail in Dallas-Fort Worth
Target Will Anchor New 225K-SF Retail Center in Colorado Springs
$1.2B Redevelopment Will Transform Former Maryland Mall Site Into Mixed-Use District
Albertsons Plans $2B+ in Capital Spending To Speed Store Openings and Remodels
Huey Magoo’s Signs Franchise Deals for 27 New Restaurants
Convenience Store Updates: 7-Eleven Will Close a Net 440 North American Stores, Plus 2 Mergers
CBRE Hires McKinsey’s Anuj Kadyan as Chief Technology and Transformation Officer

Canada’s Choice Properties and KingSett Capital Will Acquire Retail REIT First Capital in US$6.9B Deal

Choice Properties and KingSett Capital have agreed to buy First Capital, a publicly traded REIT that specializes in open-air, grocery-anchored centers in Canada, in a deal valued at roughly 9.4 billion Canadian dollars, or nearly $6.9 billion in U.S. currency.

If the transaction closes — it’s expected to do so in the second half of 2026 — publicly traded commercial and residential REIT Choice Properties will control about 5 billion Canadian dollars’ worth of First Capital’s retail assets, adding 115 grocery stores and drugstores to its portfolio.

Publicly traded holding company George Weston Ltd., which owns Choice, is contributing 600 million Canadian dollars in equity to the deal. George Weston also owns publicly traded Canadian grocery and drugstore giant Loblaw Cos., which operates more than 2,400 stores. The First Capital portfolio includes 65 Loblaw Cos.-owned Loblaws and Shoppers Drug Mart stores. George Weston CEO Galen Weston Jr. is the third-richest person in Canada, with a net worth of a little over 18 billion Canadian dollars, according to Maclean’s.

In the proposed deal, real estate investment firm KingSett would control about 4.4 billion Canadian dollars’ worth of First Capital’s retail assets; the store count and square footage weren’t available.

Both Choice and KingSett are major players in Canadian real estate. Choice’s portfolio consists of 563 necessity-based properties spanning 44.5 million square feet, 124 industrial properties encompassing 22.2 million square feet and 12 mixed-use and residential properties comprising 1.8 million square feet. All told, the Choice portfolio covers 68.5 million square feet across nearly 700 properties. KingSett has more than $19 billion in assets under management.

$600M Sterling Organization Fund Acquires 1.1M SF of Retail in Dallas-Fort Worth

A $600 million fund associated with Sterling Organization, a private equity firm specializing in open-air centers, has purchased a more than 1 million-square-foot retail property in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Allen. The seller of The Village at Allen was an affiliate of DLC and American Realty Advisors. The sale price wasn’t disclosed. The property’s more than 850,000-square-foot power center is 89% leased. The deal also included a 206,000-square-foot open-air lifestyle component that’s 59% leased, nine single-tenant outparcels and more than 8 acres of undeveloped land.

Target Will Anchor New 225K-SF Retail Center in Colorado Springs

Another property trade in the middle of the country, meanwhile, has paved the way for a 225,000-square-foot greenfield retail development. Legacy Development Partners has closed on the purchase of 30 acres in Monument, Colorado, and with multifamily and mixed-use developer Garrett Cos. plans to build a Target-anchored shopping center called Legacy at Jackson Landing. Construction is getting underway now, and the developers expect the property to open in October 2027.

$1.2B Redevelopment Will Transform Former Maryland Mall Site Into Mixed-Use District

Over on the East Coast, the mixed-use redevelopment of a shuttered mall will deliver more than 430,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space. WRS broke ground on Monday for a $1.2 billion mixed-use project at the 102-acre site of the former Lakeforest Mall in Gaithersburg, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C. The “mini city,” as WRS calls it, will replace the 1.1 million-square-foot mall, which closed in 2023. Tenants will include The Home Depot, Landmark Theatres and Sprouts Farmers Market. The project also will feature 1,600 residential units and 35 acres of green space.

Albertsons Plans $2B+ in Capital Spending To Speed Store Openings and Remodels

As it gears up for more new stores and more store makeovers, grocery giant Albertsons Cos. is budgeting at least $2 billion for capital spending in fiscal year 2026. In fiscal year 2025, which ended on Feb. 28, Albertsons earmarked more than $1.8 billion for capital expenses, including nine new stores and 94 remodeled stores.

Albertsons Cos.’ capital-expense budget for fiscal year 2026 will range from $2 billion to $2.2 billion, president and CFO Sharon McCollam said during an earnings call. Fueled by more capital spending, Albertsons is picking up the pace of store openings and of store remodels in fiscal year 2026. McCollam said the number of new stores could rise 50% compared with fiscal year 2025. As of Feb. 28, Albertsons Cos. operated 2,244 grocery stores under 22 banners, including Albertsons, Jewel-Osco, Safeway and Vons.

Huey Magoo’s Signs Franchise Deals for 27 New Restaurants

A chicken tender restaurant is adding stores, too. Fast-casual chain Huey Magoo’s is on track to reach 100 locations in 2026, up from more than 85 today. So far this year, Huey Magoo’s has signed agreements with franchises to add 27 stores in Texas and Alabama. In 2025, Huey Magoo’s introduced a 1,500-square-foot prototype store that it said reduces construction costs and timelines.

Convenience Store Updates: 7-Eleven Will Close a Net 440 North American Stores, Plus 2 Mergers

Japanese parent company Seven & I plans to close 645 7-Eleven convenience stores in North America in fiscal year 2026 and to open 205, resulting in a net loss of 440 stores and a year-end total of 12,272. Some of the 645 locations will continue to sell gas. The company’s 2026 fiscal year started on March 1. Just last year, Seven & I laid out a six-year strategy to open 1,300 new North American stores through February 2031, Kyodo News reported.

In addition to at least temporarily scaling back its long-term growth initiative, the c-store giant, citing economic uncertainty, has delayed the IPO for its North American 7-Eleven business from fiscal year 2026 to fiscal year 2027 “at the earliest.”

Meanwhile, two c-store chains have bulked up their portfolios through acquisitions. CSP reported that Breaktime Corner Market, which also is referred to as Braketime Corner Market, purchased FastLane’s 14 c-stores in East Texas and that Southwest Georgia Oil purchased Big Boss Stores’ 10 c-stores in the Florida Panhandle. The deals bring Braketime’s store count to more than 300 and Southwest Georgia Oil’s to more than 90, according to CSP. Southwest Georgia Oil operates c-stores under the SunStop banner.

CBRE Hires McKinsey’s Anuj Kadyan as Chief Technology and Transformation Officer

CBRE has hired Anuj Kadyan as chief technology and transformation officer, effective May 15. He will join CBRE from consulting giant McKinsey, where he is a senior partner and co-leader of the technology services practice. Kadyan joined McKinsey in 2009.