NEW TENANTS COMING TO VILLAGE GREEN SHOPPING CENTER; SAVE-A-LOT, THREE ADDITIONAL LEASES SIGNED

CenterMark Development LLC has signed leases accounting for over half of the gross leasable area of Village Green Shopping Center at 18235 Euclid Avenue. Save-a-Lot Food Stores will replace Aldi as the anchor.

“I am pleased to have secured a long-term commitment from a national grocery store of this caliber for the redevelopment,” said Mark Jablonski, CenterMark President. “Our location on the eastern border of Cleveland allows our tenants to draw customers from six neighboring communities. That strength, plus this unit’s visibility, helped in our efforts to upgrade our anchor,” he added.

Jablonski said that Save-A-Lot will occupy 18,000 square feet and expects the grand opening during the second quarter of 2012.

In addition to Save-A-Lot, three new leases were executed in late 2011, raising the center’s occupancy by 14%. “We have experienced noticeable improvement in tenant interest since taking over property management responsibility in 2010 and making meaningful physical improvements to the center,” said Jablonski. “Aside from the center’s inherent real estate strengths, I believe these efforts have contributed to our appeal,” he added.

Pizza Hut, Cyber Hot Spot, and Instant Tax Service all opened in 2011. “I believe there is a growing trend for retailers of all kinds to forsake stand-alone buildings in favor of smaller, multi-business units in order to benefit from the close proximity to neighboring tenants,” Jablonski said. “Pizza Hut is a prime example. In our case it moved from a large, stand-alone store to one or our units with two-thirds less space and saw sales improve significantly.”