Caruso Affiliated on Wednesday said it has reached an agreement to build a Nordstrom department store at Americana at Brand shopping center. The store, which will replace the Nordstrom at the nearby Glendale Galleria, will be built on recently acquired land that now contains a hotel.
The agreement with Seattle-based Nordstrom Inc. will result in a three-level, 135,000 square-foot store expected to open in the fall of 2013 on the south end of the upscale shopping complex. Nordstrom will operate at its current store until the new facility opens.
“This deal not only will result in a new, best-in-class department store at The Americana at Brand, but also an opportunity for our company to invest further in the city of Glendale and enhance the overall quality of retail offering in downtown Glendale,” Caruso Affiliated Chief Executive Rick Caruso said in a statement.
As part of the relocation, Caruso Affiliated is purchasing the existing Nordstrom store, which is located on the same block as the Americana. The store is connected by skywalk to the main part of the Galleria, which is across the street.
Caruso said he wants to work with the Galleria’s owner, General Growth Properties, to “revitalize, re-merchandise and reposition” the wing. The wing includes an old Mervyn’s site that has remained vacant since the department store went out of business two years ago.
Caruso said he has written to General Growth about mixed-use options that could include retail, hotel, apartments, condominiums or offices. “We are confident we will be successful in identifying an exciting tenant for the current Nordstrom space and that we can enhance this entire wing of Glendale Galleria,” he said.
Caruso Affiliated earlier this month reached an agreement with the owner of the Golden Key Hotel to buy the property that will be used for the new Nordstrom as part of a $40 million expansion that will add roughly 140,000 square feet of new retail space to the 900,000 square-foot complex. Americana currently has 75 shops, restaurants, a movie theater, and apartments and condominiums above the retail stores.
