REAL ESTATE

Simon declares ‘excellent’ quarter despite slight dip in income
Simon Property Group reported a 5% drop in net income to $527 million for the second quarter, yet declared positive results based on other measures. Total portfolio net operating income, which tracks comparable property and new property growth, grew 7.4% over second quarter 2015 and growth in comparable funds from operations rose 9.1%. The Simon board declared a 6.5% increase in its stock dividend for the quarter and raised its guidance for full-year 2016 net income to be within a range of $6.04 to $6.12 per diluted share.
Dollar General in 41-store acquisition
Dollar General has purchased 41 former Walmart Express locations across 11 states in a move designed to allow the discounter to expand its fresh meat and produce offerings. Dollar General said it expects to relocate 40 existing Dollar General stores into the purchased sites by October 2016. It will also enter one new market. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Report: Walgreens' Honolulu flagship back on market

Walgreens' flagship Hawaii store in Honolulu is back on the market, months after a Los Angeles-based investment bank and wealth management firm paid $54 million to buy the property, the Pacific Business Journal reported. Click here to read more.
Unable to find a buyer, entertainment retailer to close all stores

Hastings Entertainment is going out of business.
Bayer tapped to manage Branson Landing

HCW has named Bayer Properties to manage Branson Landing, the 95-acre mixed-use development in Branson, Missouri, that is home to the town’s convention center, Hilton Hotel, and in excess of 450,000 sq. ft. of retail and entertainment space. Branson Landing is situated on 1.5 miles of Lake Taneycomo waterfront and its boardwalk, live entertainment, and nightly fire and water show are a big draw for the 8 million or so tourists who visit the town annually.
Canadian Outerwear Brand Spreads its Wings

Photo: Adam Ketcheson, VP marketing and business-to-consumer A company named after the first reptile to develop the feather for flight is expanding its store portfolio. Arc’teryx Equipment, a manufacturer and retailer of high-performance outdoor apparel and equipment, has opened a 2,300-sq.-ft. flagship in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood. It is the company’s seventh fully-owned retail store in North America, with two more locations to open by yearend.
The ‘Whole Foods Effect’ shines on

The surge in health-conscious retailers is evident wherever one shops. In the space of a few years, the likes of Lululemon, Fresh Market, and Orangetheory Fitness have proliferated in shopping centers. But Whole Foods, arguably a chief driver of the trend, has transformed its own business as well as that of centers.
Parents police Wisconsin shopping center

A shopping center in a tough neighborhood of Madison, Wisconsin, pays a troop of three parents to keep kids away from stores and cops away from kids. Wearing yellow T-shirts imprinted with “P.O.P,” for Parents on Premises, the local adults interact with teens hanging out at the Meadowood Shopping Center, intervening with those fighting or caught shoplifting on behalf of the center’s owners.
Strip centers post lowest availability rate in years

Available space in strip centers dipped to 11% in the second quarter, the lowest rate for these neighborhood venues since 2008. The reason: omnichannel growth and format experimentation, according to CBRE, which tracked availability across 62 U.S. markets.
Brooklyn’s hot, but what about for retail?

Cushman & Wakefield’s senior director for Brooklyn Joseph Cirone is incredibly bullish on the borough in which he lives and works. “If you are a tenant in Manhattan with a lease expiring any time in the next 36 months, you need to come and kick the tires in Brooklyn,” Cirone told attendees at a presentation of the company’s mid-year commercial real estate outlook for Manhattan.