Sunday RECon News Roundup

ICSC’s 2011 RECon show kicked off just a few hours ago and already the news releases are pouring in.

Here’s a rundown of announcements from late last week and today.

Peterson Commences Work on Promenade at Virginia Gateway

The Peterson Cos.announced that work has commenced on The Promenade at Virginia Gateway–a 300,000-square-foot retail center offering an upscale mix of retail, dining, and entertainment uses along with pedestrian-friendly streets and a dedicated events plaza. The project will be anchored by a 12 to 14-screen movie theater and is slated to open in Fall 2012.

“Virginia Gateway is one of our most successful projects and we are pleased at the level of interest from retailers and restaurants who want to be a part of the highly-desirable Gainesville community and The Promenade at Virginia Gateway,” Taylor Chess, senior vice president – retail for Peterson said in a statement.

The company also announced that a 79,000-square-foot BJ’s Wholesale Club is currently under construction and slated to open in late 2011.

RetailPlanet.com Unveils BrandScore

TheRetailPlanet.com Inc.announced BrandScore for Retailers, a web-based, real-time, retail location screening and scoring system that enables retailers and brokers to determine retail location quality.

Based on the concept of property scoring developed by Dr. Richard Fenker, TheRetailPlanet’s founder and CEO, BrandScore for Retailers gives retailers and brokers—a score to help them evaluate retail properties. Retailers and brokers can use the system to perform a first-pass analysis that narrows the field and makes efficient use of overburdened analyst’s time.

“BrandScore for Retailers breaks new ground because it is comprehensive and powerful but so easy to use that even a busy executive can get results in 90 seconds or less,” Fenker said in a statment. “We’ve taken the concept of credit scoring, which everyone understands, and applied it to the complex job of retail site selection. Now retailers and brokers can quickly obtain the crucial data they need about retail property—a meaningful score.”

Built on the Google Maps platform, the product has scored every retail district in the United States for more than 3,000 brands. The product combines local demographics, consumer preferences, and retail synergy to produce a single numeric measure that represents the potential location quality of any retail location.

TheRetailPlanet.com offers three levels of service, with ICSC promotional pricing starting at $2,995.

BrandScore for Retailers is up and running now at TheRetailPlanet.com and access to 4 brands nationwide is offered for free and no registration is required.

LoopNet to Unveil New Features; Develops App for Shopping Center Group

LoopNet Inc., which recently agreed to be acquired by CoStar Group, is planning to unveil new features for its site in a reception on the show floor on Monday afternoon.

In other news, LoopNetannounced the launch of a private label iPhone and iPad Apps for The Shopping Center Group, an Atlanta-based retail real estate advisory companies. Custom branded with the brokerage’s logo and company colors, these apps provide the firm’s brokers with full access to their firm’s entire inventory of availabilities, property photos and listing flyers when they are out in the field with clients.

Winick Announces HealthSource Lease; MedRite Opening

Winick Realty Group LLC announced two deals in the run-up to RECon.

HealthSource Pharmacy, a discount health food store and pharmacy with two Manhattan locations, has renewed its lease at 1302 Second Avenue, between 68th and 69th Streets on the Upper East Side. The retailer will occupy its 950-square-foot ground-floor space, as well as a 400-square-foot lower level, for another 10 years.

Winick Realty Group LLC Managing Director Hal Shapiro brokered the lease renewal on behalf of both HealthSource Pharmacy and the landlord.

Additionally, WInick announced that MedRite Urgent Care, a medical clinic, has opened its first location at 919 Second Avenue, is in Manhattan. Owner and administrator Samuel Fisch leased the space—which sits below a newly-built condominium and next to a recently-opened TD Bank—with the help of Winick Realty Group LLC’s Tatiana Jung-Voevodina and executive vice president Lori Shabtai, who represented both the tenant and the landlord in the transaction.

MedRite accepts walk-in patients, as well as those who make appointments on their website, www.medriteurgentcare.com, on all major insurance plans. The 3,000-square-foot facility took six months to build out and includes on-site laboratory and x-ray services, as well as examination rooms manned by five board-certified emergency physicians.