Allen Brown
Director, GRS | Title
(480) 428-5575
[email protected]
Kevin May
Director, GRS Group
(310) 614-9329
[email protected]
As GRS Group does every year, we hit the ICSC Western Division conference in San Diego earlier this month.
Besides the networking with clients, and making some great connections, both new and current, we learned a lot of great information about the retail real estate industry.
The net-lease sector of retail real estate has been hot for several years. Panelists said that the sectors giving it a boost are primarily drug and dollar stores, with strong credit. Additionally, coupled with several fast-food-drive-thru options, the millennial crowd is interested in locally based food options that might not be the highest-credit tenants but have consumer credibility.
Despite the national perspective, we also learned a lot about the local San Diego market. In another GlobeSt.com report, Michael Golden of Lee & Associates said that there are many out-of-state investors looking for properties in San Diego, both fully leased and value-add assets. He also mentioned very low capitalization rates for retail properties as a result of the inflow of population, due to the more-than-friendly weather, among other issues.
Brad Umansky of Progressive Real Estate Partners added some more perspective. He pointed out that attendance was up, possibly hitting 5,000 people. Umansky also noted that there is more development taking place in the retail real estate industry than a lot of observers would expect, retailers are more interested in profitability nowadays than store growth and that retail CRE brokers are working overtime to get deals done, due to demand.
In addition to the commentary about the conference, other great and informative sessions that the Western Division conference featured included: analysis of the market by superstar retail analyst Dana Telsey, the CEO of Telsey Advisory Group; great information centered around retail real estate special-interest groups; and one panel that discussed 20 retailers expanding around the country.
This shows the health that the retail real estate industry is doing in certain sub-sectors of its businesses.
At GRS Group, we are able to help potential investors and current owners know the in’s and out’s of retail real estate due diligence. Please contact us with any questions.