ICSC: Booth Bonanza!

Bisnow is on the ground in Vegas at ICSC RECon this week, and in between talking to retail experts, we're also checking out the floor's biggest (and coolest) booths. To fit in as many dealmakers as possible, most of the big brokerages like Cushman & Wakefield (to the left), CBRE, JLL, and Newmark Grubb Knight Frank offered massive open-air setups. Big-time owners like GGP and Acadia Realty Trust, shown here, are going for a more enclosed, private feel. Over at the Cushman booth, the firm's Americas retail head Matt Winn told us placemaking is a popular topic among brokers and owners alike this year, and he says it's not just about sprucing up old shopping centers anymore; to survive, retail owners need to curate a healthy mix of hip local as well as tried-and-true national retailers.

Firms on the floor are all about placemaking, too—especially in their own booths. Atlanta-based Jamestown went all out to welcome its guests with an exotic Indian-style tent, complete with a crepe station operated by Peter Tondreau and Troi Lughod of NYC's Bar Suzette (pictured hard at work in the back). Peter and Troi, whose Bar Suzette concept is a tenant in Jamestown's Chelsea Market, tell us they will serve up 300 to 500 crepes every day of the conference.

We snapped Atlanta District 4 council member Cleta Winslow (right) with DC Mayor Vince Gray (second from right) at the District's massive booth, and the pair both have big military-related redevelopments in common. Cleta was in Vegas to meet with potential partners and retailers for the Fort McPherson redevelopment, while Mayor Gray was working the floor discussing DC's revamp of the Walter Reed Army Medical Campus. They're joined by DC Economic Partnership head Keith Sellars and InvestAtlanta's Chris Leutzinger and Kent Spencer.