Chattanooga’s first suburban shopping center has a new owner.

A Fayetteville, Arkansas-based real estate investment firm has acquired the 64-year-old Highland Plaza shopping center at Hixson Pike and Ashland Terrace as national investment groups continue to buy into the Chattanooga market.

The Fletcher Bright Co., which has owned and managed the Hixson shopping center since 1994, sold the 129,000-square-foot retail center last month for nearly $8.9 million, or nearly $69 per square foot.

The shopping center is anchored by a Walmart Neighborhood Center, which was previously sold by Fletcher Bright, and includes a Big Lots, Dollar Tree, Tuesday Morning and Farmer’s Furniture along with a CHI Memorial medical clinic.

A real estate partnership created by Core Equity in Fayetteville bought the shopping center with an investment partnership that is known as Core Highland Plaza LLC to expand into what company officials see as a growing Chattanooga retail market.

“Chattanooga is

Yahoo Finance Live’s Brian Sozzi provides his take on the state of the mall industry despite the economic slowdown.

Video Transcript

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– US mall landlord Simon Property Group touting that the mall business is still strong in its latest earnings report. It did, though, concede inflation is hitting some of its retail holdings. Sozz, of course, has a hot take on this.

Now, Simon is what they call an A mall owner. Right?

BRIAN SOZZI: Yes, an A mall.

– It’s true. They own the most premium properties.

BRIAN SOZZI: That’s true. And I was looking for some doom and gloom from Simon Property Group. That’s why I did it as my take. Didn’t really find it, per se. But did have some red flags.

First up, despite the economic slowdown, Simon noting that occupancy in its malls, as Julie mentioned correctly, A malls, some of the best

Amazon is partnering with select stores that we’re used to seeing in local shopping malls to offer same-day Prime deliveries. For now, this only applies to orders from PacSun, GNC, Superdry, and Diesel, but Amazon says it’s working on offering same-day deliveries from Sur La Table and 100% Pure in “the coming months.”

The service is also limited to certain cities, which include in and around Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Miami, Phoenix, Scottsdale, Seattle, and Washington, DC. If you’re located near any of these areas, Amazon says you can now browse through and order a curated selection of goods from local mall stores on Amazon’s site.

Right now, Amazon’s selection of stores seems a bit slim. But if you need some vitamins or a pair of jeans in a pinch — and you haven’t hung out at the mall in years — it could come in handy. While it

The biggest shopping mall owners in the United States say retailers are still forging ahead with plans to open new stores in spite of growing recession fears and decades-high inflation that’s squeezing shoppers’ budgets.

Simon Property Group, the country’s largest mall owner, said the pipeline of businesses slated to open up at its properties remains strong. The company reported an occupancy rate at its US malls and outlet centers of 93.9% as of June 30, up from 91.8% a year earlier.

“Even with what’s going on in the world, we really haven’t seen anyone back out of deals,” Simon Property Chief Executive Officer David Simon said on an earnings conference call Monday.

“We’re seeing a big rebound in Vegas, Florida is on fire … California is finding its legs,” he added.

Fueling the openings are a mix of factors, including retailers pushing to snap up limited space and popular online