The season of annual earnings reports is upon us and as retailers take stock of their performance in 2009, we are starting to see announcements of store closings, especially in the apparel sector. This week alone, Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle Outfitters and the French Connection announced plans to either close hundreds of underperforming namesake stores or shut down underperforming concepts. But at least some of the mall owners impacted by store closings are finding innovative uses for their spaces. One Cleveland property, for instance, has been converting empty stores into greenhouses. For more on this and other news about retail and retail real estate, follow the links below:
- Forest City Ratner broke ground last week on the long-awaited Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, according to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
- An under-tenanted mall in Cleveland started using empty stores for greenhouse spaces, reports Fast Company.
- The Street.com reports that American Eagle Outfitters will close its Martin + Osa chain.
- Abercrombie & Fitch plans to shutter 100 underperforming stores over the next three years, according to the Columbus Dispatch.
- RTT News reports that apparel retailer French Connection plans to dismantle most of its U.S. store portfolio after a disappointing year in 2009. The retailer operates 23 stores in the U.S.
- According to vmsd, H&M will open 240 stores worldwide in 2010.
Vornado Chairman Commits a Potentially Costly Faux Pas
by Elaine Misonzhnik March 15th, 2010
We all have those moments when we accidentally say something we shouldn’t, so it’s easy to relate to how Vornado chairman Stephen Roth ended up in a bit of a mess with Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino over some unguarded remarks Roth made at a Columbia University event earlier this month. Unfortunately, Roth’s slip of the tongue might end up costing him much more than general embarrassment.
Speaking about urban development in front of a Columbia University audience, Roth let it slip that he let the former Alexander’s site in Midtown sit vacant longer than necessary in a bid to get more concessions from New York City government for his eventual project, which became the Bloomberg Tower. In recounting the story, Roth implied waiting a bit too long to start construction might be a smart development tactic, which led some bloggers to speculate he was doing that very thing with the Downtown Crossing project in Boston.
While there’s been no response from New York City officials about their feelings on Roth’s purported tactics, the suggestion that Roth was holding up the Downtown Crossing development in a ploy to get more money infuriated Mayor Menino, who sent Roth an angry letter berating him for his callousness. Menino is now considering using the power of eminent domain to take the property away from Vornado, according to the New York Observer.
Meanwhile, a writer for The Boston Globe wonders how much of Roth’s purported tactic is due to revisionist history.
No Comments Related Topics: Commentary, Development, News, REITs, Retail Real Estate |