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SPATE OF REGIONAL MALL OPENINGS PRECEDES HOLIDAY SEASON

A slate of new regional malls opened across the country in October and early November. Taubman Centers launched the 1.3 million-square-foot International Plaza in Tampa, Fla., in early October. Within a 10-day span later in October, five malls made their debuts: Simon Property Group’s 760,000-square-foot Bowie (Md.) Town Center; Westcor Shopping Centers’ 1.3 million-square-foot Chandler (Ariz.) Fashion Place; Glimcher Realty Trust’s 1.5 million-square-foot Polaris Fashion Place, Columbus, Ohio; and two malls developed by Forest City Enterprises — the 1.2 million-square-foot Robinson Town Center, Pittsburgh; and the 1.3 million-square-foot Mall at Stonecrest, Lithonia, Ga. In early November Mills Corp. opened the 1.3 million-square-foot Discover Mills, Duluth, Ga., and The Boyer Co. opened The Gateway project in Salt Lake City, which features more than 700,000 square feet of retail. Finally, on Nov. 9, TrizecHahn opened the Hollywood & Highland retail entertainment project in Los Angeles.

MILLS SELLS STAKE IN FRANCHISING ARM

The Mills Corp., Arlington, Va., in October sold a 40 percent stake in its FoodBrand subsidiary, which owns 50 franchise restaurants in food courts in four Mills properties, to Panda Restaurant Group for $9.5 million. Panda will assume two seats on FoodBrand’s five-seat advisory board and take an active role in management of the company. The two firms want to extend the business to other Mills properties and perhaps other developers’ projects.

GE CAPITAL, KIMCO REALTY FORGE ACQUISITION VENTURE

GE Capital Real Estate, Stamford, Conn., and Kimco Realty Corp., New Hyde Park, N.Y., have formed a joint venture to acquire retail real estate, marking the latest in a series of alliances Kimco has formed recently for this purpose. The new enterprise, called the Kimco Realty Opportunity Portfolio, will be funded by a shared equity pool established by the two. Kimco will handle the management and leasing of any properties the joint venture acquires. Although the companies did not release financial information on the venture, REIT analysts anticipate that the fund could grow to up to $1 billion within the next three years.

CVS SHUTTERS 200 STORES

CVS Corp., the United States’ largest drugstore chain, has announced it will close 200 pharmacies in January, following a 16 percent decline in third-quarter earnings. The results, which CVS chairman and CEO Tom Ryan called “disappointing,” were surprisingly low, considering that drugstores have been one of the few retail segments that have consistently posted same-store sales gains in excess of 10 percent in the past year. CVS’ same-store sales grew 7.6 percent during the quarter.

Woonsocket, R.I.-based CVS did not specify which stores it was shutting down, but did say the closing would be spread throughout the firm’s portfolio, which consists of more than 4,000 stores in 32 states and the District of Columbia.