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| Michael Bull |
ATLANTA, GA – Optimism in the retail sector’s future.
High-quality tenants. Significant growth plans. Strong balance sheets.
Those are some of
the characteristics of the retail REITs highlighted in the most recent episode
of the “Commercial Real Estate Show,” hosted by Michael Bull of Bull
Realty.
The episode featured interviews with the REITs' CEOs
conducted by Bull Realty's Brad Thomas at the recent RECon 2013
convention in Las Vegas. Thomas, senior vice president of capital markets at
Bull Realty, writes about REITs for Forbes, Seeking Alpha and The Street.
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| Brad Thomas |
“Overall, the
shopping center industry – month by month, quarter by quarter – has been
getting a lot better,” said David Henry of Kimco Realty. “You see it in
our key metrics. Occupancy, same-store net operating income, leasing spreads,
effective rents: they’re all getting better for us.”
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| David Henry |
“There’s a lot less
new supply that’s being added to the market, so it’s a good demand-and-supply
equation for the shopping center business,” said Hap Stein of Regency
Centers. “It’s vastly improved over the last several years.”
Stand-alone,
triple-net-leased retail properties are especially appealing to both tenants
and investors in today’s marketplace, according to Tom Lewis of Realty
Income, which focuses on net-leased sites.
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| Hap Stein |
“A lot of America’s corporations have decided they don’t
need to own real estate,” he said. Instead, “they can lease it, and we’re
buying it and leasing it back to them under long-term leases … The cost of
capital is low, and that’s the perfect storm for companies like ours.”
Federal Realty Trust
has grown its cash flow by concentrating its retail portfolio in core, densely
populated markets such as Boston, Northern California, Southern California and
Washington D.C., said Don Wood of Federal Realty Trust. “How do you keep
cash flow growing?” he said. “You’ve got to be in high-quality markets where
there’s lots of people with money to spend.”
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| Don Wood |
Taubman Centers is
feeling bullish enough about the sector that it is currently undertaking $1.2
billion of new development, said Robert Taubman. The new projects
include regional malls in San Juan, Puerto Rico; suburban St. Louis; and
Sarasota, Fla., as well as three retail projects inAsia.
“Our DNA is about
development,” Taubman said.
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| Robert Taubman |
Tanger Factory
Outlets also is building new properties, including new centers in Charlotte,
N.C.; Columbus, Ohio; and Grand Rapids,Mich. “This growth is based on demand,”
said Steve Tanger. “We don’t build on speculation.”
Having executives
own part of a REIT can make the company more successful, said Stuart Tanz
of Retail Opportunity Investment Corp. “I believe I’m the single largest
individual shareholder in the company,” he said.
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| Steve Tanger |
“That’s critical, in my view,
of looking at any company. You want management to have skin in the game.
Everyone is making decisions for the future in terms of their own vested
interests.”
The entire episode
on retail REITs is available for download at www.CREshow.com.
The next “Commercial Real Estate Show” will be available June 6 and will
feature more interviews from the recent RECon 2013 retail show in Las Vegas.
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| Stuart Tanz |
For a complete copy
of the company’s news release, please contact:
Stephen Ursery
The Wilbert Group
E-mail: sursery@thewilbertgroup.com
Please note new office number: (404) 549-7150
Cell: (404) 405-2354
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