Target to fill the empty JCP space at Brooklyn’s Kings Plaza

Most retail real estate developers would agree that losing a J.C. Penney anchor is bad, but that filling that space with a Target is a big win. That’s what’s happened at the million-plus-sq.-ft. Kings Plaza in Brooklyn and the leadership at owner Macerich is overjoyed.

“Target is an incredibly productive and premier brand that is a terrific fit for local shoppers, who have made a strong return to in-person shopping,” said Macerich president Ed Coppola. “We believe the attractive demographics surrounding Kings Plaza make this property a match for all that Target has to offer.”

The Kings Plaza acquisition is the latest in a list of top-level anchor replacements registered by Macerich, one of the top five owner-operators of enclosed shopping centers in the United States with 40-plus properties. The company placed Primark in empty anchor spaces at the Green Acres Mall on Long Island, Tysons Corner Center in Northern Virginia, and Fashion District Philadelphia. Green Acres and Fashion District have also planted multi-level Shoppers World department stores in vacant Century 21 spaces.

Prior to the pandemic, Macerich owned 50-plus properties but pared down its portfolio in an effort to help build—it said in its 2020 annual report—an “industry with fewer but better centers.”

The report also noted that Macerich looked to fill its centers with “the retailers that are emerging from the pandemic stronger than ever” and named among them Dick’s Sporting Goods, Blue Nile, Peloton, and Target.