Filene’s Basement is going to temporarily close its flagship store downtown at the end of the summer.

That decision came the day before Vornado and Gale Co. announced the closing of their previously announced deal to acquire the Filene’s flagship in Boston.

As that property undergoes a massive renovation and is converted to a 38-story tower, the Filene’s Basement below will be forced to close. Originally, it was going to try and keep the store open throughout the two-year project, but decided the disruptions–which would have forced the store to move twice–were too much to bear. So instead, the landmark will shutter its doors for a while.

While the Filene’s Basement name has been spread to 30 more stores across the country, the original Filene’s Basement retained some unique quirks.

Even as Filene’s Basement opened other stores that also sell designer clothes for bargain prices, only the original basement in Downtown Crossing kept the unique automatic markdown program, selling items like Prada shoes and Hugo Boss suits for a steal.

Over the years, the Filene’s Basement chain also became known for its famous bridal sales, dubbed the “running of the brides” because women would line up before the stores opened and then rush in to snag a deeply discounted wedding gown.

It’s no secret that mixed-use projects are very hot right now. Developers have largely settled on core uses including retail, office, residential and hotel in putting these projects together. But we’re curious to hear about some less common uses that may be getting incorporated.

We’ve seen a few projects that include seniors housing and a few that have civic uses like libraries or museums. Are there other creative uses being thrown into the mix?

Leave a comment here or send us an email.

The MIT Center for Real Estate along with Real Capital Analytics has developed a commercial real estate index designed “with the objective of supporting the trading of commercial property price derivatives.”

The index includes the four major property types and is computed on a monthly basis, starting with July 2001. Each property type, including retail has a separate index computed on a quarterly basis. Data can also be viewed on a regional basis.

It’s a fascinating idea and will be interesting to see if it catches on. Last year, Standard & Poor’s and Robert Shiller, of Irrational Exuberance fame, launched an index for based on single-family housing for a similar purpose.

Blog Hometown Security does a excellent job breaking down the Department of Justice’s recently released study of mall security. (Available for download as a pdf here.)

Nike Inc. is “almost certainly” exploring opening a small number of mall-based specialty stores in 2007, said John Shanley, an analyst for Susquehanna Financial Group, in a research note published early Tuesday.

Citing shopping center industry contacts, Shanley wrote that the Beaverton, Ore., athletic product company is “actively” looking at 3,500- to 4,000-square-foot boxes in prominent center court locations in A malls only. A malls typically generate $350 or more a square foot in retail sales.

So says, CBS Marketwatch.

Story here.

Gap Inc. dumped Paul Pressler as chief executive Monday after a year of broken promises that culminated in a dismal holiday shopping season to deepen the clothing retailer’s misery.

Pressler, Gap’s CEO since September 2002, will receive a severance package valued at $14 million as he walks away from the turmoil that has raised questions about the company’s future.

The San Francisco-based company, which owns 3,100 stores under the Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic brands, has been mired in a sales funk since the spring of 2004.

Gap named Robert J. Fisher, the son of founder Donald Fisher, as interim CEO.

There’s been rumors for months that Gap could be a target for a private equity takeover. Perhaps ousting Pressler is a prelude to a deal going down.

According to Webpronews, one of the technologies Google is working on is to create a network of digital billboards to which it will broadcast advertising. And malls are one target for the technology.

There’s been a lot of in-mall television and digital signage of late. But what Google’s cooking up sounds a little different.

Google’s patent application initially mentions a system of “advertisements in a network of electronic display devices.” But if that seems vague, things become clearer about 1,000 words into the piece.

While describing the (potential) product, the application states, “One example of this are kiosk-type billboards typically located in retail outlets, such as shopping malls, airports, hotel lobbies, etc. In their simplest form these devices loop through a series of poster-type advertisements promoting, movies, products and/or retail outlets in proximity to the sign to induce specific customer behavior.”

There’s an update on the Mills being acquired by Brookfield, from thefirst report.

One of the big questions about the proposed acquisition is why its happening now. But as the report illustrates (which first appeared on our sister site NREI Online), a looming debt deadline played a big part in Mills reaching an agreement.

But the saga isn’t over yet. Gazit-Globe, which has been pursuing Mills aggressively since October, upped its recapitalization offer after the Brookfield deal was announced. That means that Mills could change its mind on Brookfield or that Brookfield may eventually be forced to increase its $21 per share offer for the beleagured REIT.

Gazit-Globe, which owns about 9 percent of Mills stock, originally offered Mills $1.2 billion in October, proposing to buy Mills stock and extend the firm new lines of credit. Then on Tuesday-the day before the Brookfield deal was announced-Gazit upped its offer to $21 per share, amounting to $1.8 billion in acquiring stock and new debt, including an offer to refinance the Goldman Sachs loan. Another shareholder, Farallon Partners, which holds 10.9 percent of all Mills shares - offered to buy $499 million of new Mills stock, offering $20 per share. (In October, Farallon had entered into a standstill agreement with Mills.)

Either of the offers could have helped to solve Mills most pressing problem - a March 31 deadline to pay a $1.06 billion mortgage loan from lenders represented by Goldman Sachs Mortgage Co. Farallon’s equity was to have been augmented with CMBS proceeds to pay down the loan, while a Gazit-Global share purchase would have paid down the debt and been coupled with a refinancing of the remaining balance with the Royal Bank of Canada.

Circuit City will unveil a new prototype store in June. It isn’t releasing too many details yet on what the new concept will be like.

Perhaps Circuit City is looking to emulate Best Buy, which has operated several test stores selling merchandise geared towards more select audiences.

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Simon Property Group is forecasting its 2007 funds from operations and earnings per share will be below analysts estimates.

It’s not a major shift. It’s looking at FFO of $5.70 and $5.80 per share compared with analyst estimates of $5.81, and earnings per share between $1.82 and $1.92 per share compared with analyst estimates of $1.94.

But it’s a downgrade nonetheless.