Dallas-based Crow Holdings believes smaller format, open-air malls with strong food and beverage offerings are thriving even with the rush to e-commerce. And now, the Dallas-based national real estate investment and development firm, has formed a joint venture and retail real estate investment platform with its investment management business Crow Holdings Capital and a global institutional investor to pursue that niche.

The company said the partnership allows it to expand its retail investment strategy of acquiring small-format, convenience-oriented, open-air, food and service shopping centers and to continue capitalizing on the opportunity to aggregate an institutional-quality portfolio in a highly fragmented market.

The platform was formed via a recapitalization of an existing, $1.8-billion, 173-property portfolio owned by two real estate funds managed by CHC. It includes a significant equity commitment to pursue new acquisitions to continue to scale the business with the goal of establishing the joint venture as the dominant small-format, food and service platform in the United States.