News
What Now?
February 23, 2011
| Our headline is the question retail experts were answering at this morning's Bisnow Retail Summit after a tumultuous week that included Borders declaring bankruptcy, Target leasing a space at the Sullivan Center on State Street, and Rahm Emanuel taking the city by storm. | |
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| On the panel, Urban Retail Properties' Ross Glickman says that Urban's receivership business and public-private partnerships (which he's successfully executed in DC and New York) have helped keep his business thriving during the recession. He hopes Rahm will help the city develop more partnerships. CBRE's George Good reported that 2010 saw retail centers selling at a 2002 activity level at 2007 prices. $22.6B in investments were made last year, up 51% from 2009. Chicago fared better than the rest of the country with 47 transactions. Next Realty's Andy Hochberg says his company is bucking the trend by selling Class-A assets and looking for B and C assets to improve. He hopes a new concept store will emerge to backfill vacancies, especially in the 5,000 to 6,000 SF range. | |
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| Friedman Properties' Jason Friedman said, noting it's obvious, owners should check out a tenant's credentials before leasing a space: "A restaurateur should have more experience than eating at a restaurant." He also hopes the new planning department will emphasize urban neighborhood planning instead of a malling of the neighborhood areas. Sierra's Rob Rowe wondered what will happen to all the junior anchor spaces formerly filled by Borders and Circuit City. (Since he represents XSport, which is rumored to be seeking space in Block 37, maybe he has an idea.) Target is one of Rob's clients, and he anticipates it and Wal-Mart will be searching forsmaller urban spaces this year. Pircher Nichols & Meeks' David Pezza moderated the panel. | |
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| Our 220 guests made the Metropolitan Club at Willis Towerstanding-room only. Remember, if you hang on to that security tag, you can get 20% off at the SkyDeck. | |
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| Bedford Cost Segregation's Jan Fiola, The Village of Barrington'sPeggy Banchard, and Inland Western's Kristan Laden tell us 32 new businesses opened in Barrington in 2010. Peggy says the village's downtown was jumpstarted by an Irish pub and wine barearly last year. Kristan would talk, but Inland's in a silent period after filing for an IPO last week. | |
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| Taylor Johnson's Kim Manning and Englewood Construction's Bill Di Santo, Chuck Taylor, and Kim Sawyer schmoozed after the event. Englewood is building a new Amercian Girl Store at Tyson's Corner in DC, finishing up the Trader Joe's at Clark and Diversey, wrapping a handful of new Pei Wei restaurants in the suburbs. Chuck also told us to keep an eye out for a new tenant going into the formerBarnes & Noble just west of Clark on Diversey. | |
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| Newmark Knight Frank's Niki Stathos, here with Sierra's Brett Zimmerman, NealGerber Eisenberg's James Muraff, and Urban Retail's Laura Muraff, had news for us. She and NKF's Jim Schutterleased 8,000 SF to Utrecht Art Supply. She's also listing spaces at 2 N. Riverside and the Mod at 1222 W. Monroe. |
