Content about Southern United States

Virginia Beach, Va. -- Divaris Real Estate has announced the completion of several leases for retail space in Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Richmond, Va.  
 
The first lease was signed with O’Reilly Auto Parts for 12,608 sq. ft. in a former Rite Aid pharmacy located in Norfolk.  O’Reilly operates 13 other stores in Hampton Roads.
 

Columbia, S.C. -- Golfsmith International is opening its first South Carolina store, in the state capital of Columbia, with a grand opening celebration on May 3 to May 5.
   
The 23,500-sq.-ft. store is part of Golfsmith's aggressive growth strategy in the Carolinas. Adding to its current Raleigh location, the company recently expanded with new stores in Charlotte and Greensboro — with another new store opening in Myrtle Beach later this spring.

Salisbury, N.C. — Delhaize's Food Lion, Harveys and Reid's chains have earned their 12th consecutive Energy Star award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

New York -- Cathy Green Burns, president of Food Lion, has left the company and is being succeeded by Beth Newlands Campbell as part of a major organizational shakeup at Delhaize America, according to published reports. Delhaize America is a division of Brussels-based Delhaize Group. Campbell previously served as president of Hannaford Supermarkets.

Salisbury, N.C. -- Grocery chain Food Lion, a subsidiary of Delhaize America, said Wednesday that it has rolled out a previously announced new brand strategy to 268 stores in Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina. These markets are the first stores in 2012 to unfurl the new strategy, which is based on customer feedback. 

Salisbury, N.C. -- Food Lion announced it has selected Boston-based Mullen as its advertising agency of record. Mullen will be responsible for developing Food Lion's advertising campaigns and partnering with the company on integrated marketing initiatives in support of the Food Lion brand.

Mullen succeeds Ames Scullen O'Haire as the agency of record. The terms of the contract were not disclosed, and new creative and advertising could take effect as early as first quarter 2012.

Bethesda, Md. -- Streetsense announced that Founding Farmers restaurant has opened a 7,000-sq.-ft. location at Park Potomac, an 110,000-sq.-ft retail center that is part of a mixed-use community developed by Foulger-Pratt of Rockville, Md.

The new restaurant, which is described as “barnyard chic” and featuring natural ingredients, is joined by Harris Teeter grocery store, as well as Elevation Burger, Emily Grace Fashion Boutique, Love Couture Bridal, Wine Harvest, Zoe's Kitchen, and other shops and services.

Salisbury, N.C. -- Grocery chain Food Lion said Tuesday that two of its stores have earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 2011 Gold-Level GreenChill Store Certification Award, one of the agency's highest honors for refrigeration.

The stores are located in Conyers, Ga., and in Columbia, S.C.

Food Lion became a founding partner with the EPA's GreenChill program in 2007. Since that time, the grocer joined other food retailers to reduce refrigerant emissions and decrease impact on the ozone layer and climate change. Food Lion has won GreenChill's Distinguished Partner Award and its Superior Environmental Achievement Award in the past.

"Our company is committed to going beyond simply reducing refrigerants," said Susan Sollenberger, director of energy, maintenance and equipment purchasing at Delhaize America South. "In addition to reducing emissions through the EPA's GreenChill partnership, we continue to look for new environmentally-friendly technologies and increase the amount of stores that are also Energy Star certified."

Food Lion has more than half of the nation's Energy Star stores, with 1,015 certified stores. In addition, the company has partnered with utilities to evaluate a variety of energy saving opportunities, such as solar power. 

Austin, Texas -- The Weitzman Group announced that Bradley Bailey has been named senior VP and director of investment sales for Central Texas and The Valley for The Weitzman Group.

Bailey will work with Lance Morris, president of The Weitzman Group in Austin, and David Nicolson, president of Weitzman’s San Antonio office. 

In this new position, Bailey will handle investment sales and marketing for retail and commercial properties. 

Salisbury, N.C. -- Delhaize America said Monday it plans to convert all of its Bloom stores in North and South Carolina to the Food Lion banner, with the exception of one Bloom store in Mauldin, S.C., that will close.

According to a report by Supermarket News, the 15 Bloom locations in the Charlotte and Greenville, S.C., markets will be converted "as quickly as possible."

Vienna, Va. -- Jacksonville, Fla.-based Regency Centers said it has named Jack deVilliers as leasing agent in Baltimore, Maryland and the New England area. 

deVilliers will be responsible for leasing 13 operating properties, totaling 1.8 million sq. ft., in Maryland, Washington, D.C., Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Previously, deVilliers served as a retail leasing associate for commercial real estate broker KLNB Retail, handling tenant and landlord representation of new retail development projects.