Retail

MAPLE GROVE, MN-The other six Audio King stores in Minnesota will change their name to Ultimate Electronics. They will also undergo extensive renovation, including the addition of a "Hard Rock Sound Asylum" theme room.

LONDON-Chelsfield chairman Elliott Bernerd said this morning he hoped to make an MBO bid for the company by the middle of next month.

IRVINE, CA-The Seattle-based department store chain says it will open a 125,000-sf property at the Spectrum in the fall of 2005.

ATLANTA-The locally based urban redeveloper leases the 96-year-old, 9,000-sf property on North Avenue to Derek Lawford Pubs which plans to open The Spotted Dog in the three-story structure. The 10-year lease has an estimated aggregate value of $1.8 million.

PHOENIX-Taubman Centers will collect $43.5 million more than it paid for the 611,000-sf, open-air center in 1994. Under the announced terms, Macerich will pay $51 million in cash, turn over 811,000 partnership units and assume $77.5 million in debt.

ST. JOSEPH, MO- The R.H. Johnson Co. and RED Development are preparing to break ground this fall on The Shoppes at North Village a 595,000-sf retail center that mixes entertainment, dining and big-box and specialty retailers on a 60-acre site next to a Wal-Mart Supercenter in north St. Joseph.

NORTHRIDGE, CA-A family trust acquires the shopping center from Santa Monica's Doerken Properties, a retail specialist.

HOUSTON-I-Hop, Sonic and Whataburger have committed to pad sites at Spring Cypress Crossing in far northwest Houston and negotiations are under way for additional retailers at the center.