Forest City Ratner Co. and its local partners (Moreland Development and Synterra Ltd.) began construction of Quartermaster Plaza in South Philadelphia. The $100 million, 540,000-square-foot shopping center on the site of a defunct U.S. Army clothing manufacturing plant, will be anchored by Home Depot and BJ's Wholesale Club…Rochester, N.Y., mall developer Wilmorite, which operates the Rotterdam Square Mall in Albany, N.Y., has been ordered to pay the state $25,000 for breaking lobbying laws. It's crime? Giving legislators tickets to a golf tournament and food vouchers worth $200. The state limit is $75…At American Eagle Outfitter's top performing store in New York's SoHo district, where sales per square foot trend at three times the chain-wide average, Charlie's Angels actress Cameron Diaz knows all the sales associates by name…The Jersey City, N.J., Planning Board approved a preliminary site plan for the first phase of construction of Liberty Harbor North, an 80-acre mixed-use development across from Manhattan that will eventually include 750,000 square feet of retail. Local businessman Peter Mocco is the developer…The “most important unresolved issue” facing redevelopment of the World Trade Center “is the plan for the ground level,” says New York City Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff. In a letter to Port Authority executives, Doctoroff suggests the office building lobbies be located on the third floor, freeing up more space for retail at the ground level. “That will attract better retail tenants, including major anchors,” he said…Kaufmann's thinks smaller is better. The May Co. division opened a 140,000-square-foot prototype store with pared-down offerings at Homestead near Pittsburgh. The “lifestyle” store is Kaufmann's first freestanding building…New Jersey developer Charles Kushner has agreed to pay an undisclosed amount to buy out his brother's estimated 20 percent interest in Kushner Cos., which owns shopping centers and strip malls, after a family feud opened the business to federal scrutiny. Meanwhile, Charles Kushner and another local developer, Bruce Ratner (pictured with Nets player Connie Hawkins), CEO of Forest City Ratner, are competing to purchase the New Jersey Nets…Pundits are questioning whether the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania can support two open-air, lifestyle-oriented projects in close proximity. Bayer Properties and Forest City Enterprises recently announced plans to build The Summit, an 800,000-square-foot project based on Bayer's popular lifestyle prototype. Memphis, Tenn.-based Poag & McEwen also announced plans for one of its lifestyle centers nearby. Both centers are slated for completion by 2006, but no anchors or tenants have been announced yet…Construction on the $200 million East River Plaza project (below), planned for East Harlem, is expected to start next year. The developer, Long Island, N.Y.-based Blumenfeld Development Group, is seeking retailers such as Home Depot, Target and Gap as tenants. Rents reportedly will range from $35 to $40 a foot.