Commercial Real Estate & Business News April 12, 2018

You might’ve noticed more and more mall food courts are changing, ditching fast food chains for local eateries. And that’s not an accident. Mall owners say they’ve been steadily increasing the percentage of retail square footage at any given property dedicated to food and beverage, creating new food halls. The push to make these changes is compelling, industry experts have told CNBC…»

Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) is going to spend $52 million this year, updating and remodeling stores in Arizona and add new features to its others. The money is coming from the $11 billion Walmart announced in October 2017 it would spend in capital expenditures. This year Walmart said it will remodel 15 stores in Arizona, including 10 in metro Phoenix. In a press release, Walmart said the updates and uses of new technology would make shopping faster…»

Many are now saying the best way to conduct business in parts of California is to set up shop in neighboring Arizona.  An increasing amount of companies are buying into that theory as they seek to lower business costs, particularly those in industrial sectors driven by warehousing and distribution. About 35 million consumers can be reached within a day’s truck haul from Phoenix…»

One of the largest speculative office projects in Arizona’s history is now underway in Tempe. With Mayor Mark Mitchell looking on, Lincoln Property Co. (LPC), in partnership with Goldman Sachs, broke ground yesterday on The Grand Building Two, a nine-story, 352,000-square-foot building that marks the second of eight office buildings slated for the 3.8 million-square-foot The Grand at Papago Park Center project in north Tempe…»