A Power Center Cleared $268 a Foot While Toys R Us Took 120 Boxes

Shopping Center Business, Sept 17, 2026; PR Newswire / Bisnow, Sept 17, 2026; Bisnow, Sept 16, 2026 — Tag: Retail / Transactions / Leasing / Policy

Key Highlights

• Knightdale Marketplace, metro Raleigh: Invesco Real Estate paid $86.7M for 323,000 sf on ~44 acres, 100% leased, ~$268/sf; seller a JV of Bailard Inc. and M&J Wilkow; JLL brokered; delivered 2007–08; tenants include Academy Sports, Best Buy, T.J. Maxx, Burlington, Ross, HomeGoods; cap rate undisclosed. Single-origin (broker release).
• M&J Wilkow also sold Miracle Mile in Monroeville, Pa. ($75.5M, Sept 3) — a value-add owner harvesting two centers into institutional bids in two weeks.
• Toys R Us (WHP Global) with Go! Retail Group: 120 new standalone stores opening this holiday season, taking the standalone count to about 160 from roughly 36–40; the 2023 precedent was 24 temporary stores. Store sizes not disclosed.
• New York City Council heard Intro 90 on Sept 16: a mandatory one-year storefront lease extension with a 7–10% rent cap; the Manhattan Chamber says 35–40% of landlords carry lender minimum-rent covenants; prime-corridor availability 11.6% (JLL, Q2), lowest since 2017.

The Signal

• Non-grocery power centers are trading near replacement cost to core buyers.
• Seasonal pop-up demand at 120 boxes is real absorption for dark junior-anchor space, even if it is temporary.
• Policy risk on retail leases moved from talk to a Council hearing in the largest market.

Invesco's $86.7M Knightdale purchase is a fully leased, big-box, no-grocer center ten miles from Raleigh at roughly $268/sf — the third open-air trade above $65M in ten days, after Promenade in Palm Beach Gardens and Village Crossing in Skokie.

Seller behavior is the tell. M&J Wilkow has now sold two centers in two weeks. Value-add owners are harvesting into a core bid that returned in 2026 for 2005–08 vintage power centers with national credit rosters.

On the demand side, Toys R Us is opening 120 standalone stores through Go! Retail Group's pop-up platform, lifting its standalone count to about 160 by the holidays. Sizes are undisclosed, but the format targets junior-anchor and inline boxes in malls and power centers.

It is temporary income. It is also 120 boxes leased in a single quarter — more absorption than most markets see in a year of permanent deals. The underwriting question is the January conversion rate, not the November opening count.

In New York, the Council heard Intro 90: a statutory one-year holdover for storefront tenants with a 7–10% rent cap. The industry's argument is covenant collision — 35–40% of landlords carry minimum-rent loan terms that a mandated extension could breach. The bill sat dormant since 2021 and now has a mayoral tailwind.

Implications

Owners of 2005–08 power centers: 100% leased and near replacement cost is the exit window, and the core bid is real. Landlords with dark boxes: pop-up operators are a legitimate bridge tenant — structure the license for conversion. New York retail lenders: model a mandated holdover into every 2027 maturity until Intro 90 dies or passes.

Big-box retail has a core buyer at replacement cost and a seasonal tenant for the dark space — the risk that is growing is regulatory, not demand.