Friday, June 14, 2013

REIT CEOs Express Enthusiasm about Retail Sector’s Present and Future

  
Michael Bull

ATLANTA. GA– Encouraged by positive supply-and-demand dynamics as well as the low cost of capital, the CEOs of several retail REITs feel a strong confidence in both their individual firms and the retail sector as a whole.

Their positive outlooks are outlined in the most recent episode of the “Commercial Real Estate Show,” hosted by Michael Bull of Bull Realty.

Brad Thomas
For the second week in a row, the show featured interviews of retail REIT CEOs that were 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.

Mark Zalatoris
“There’s a very positive mood in the retailer environment today,” said Mark Zalatoris of Inland Real Estate Corp. “Our leasing people come back from meetings just saying they’re so enthused about the retailers’ desire to expand store counts.”

Drew Alexander
“The mood is really quite good, as the tenant interest in our product type is especially strong,” said Drew Alexander of Weingarten Realty, which focuses on acquiring, managing and developing grocery-anchored and value-retailer-anchored shopping centers.

Additionally, “people realize that a supermarket-anchored or discount-anchored shopping center is an incredibly recession-resilient vehicle so there’s tremendous investor interest,” Alexander said.

Joey Agree
Two other CEOs provided testimony to the enduring appeal of standalone, net-leased retail properties to investors.

 “We continue to see a lack of supply coming online, and there’s a ton of demand for acquisitions, both from traded and non-traded REITs as well as investors seeking yield replacement,” said Joey Agree of Agree Realty Corp. “It’s on fire.”

Craig Macnab
 “What’s happening is that the broad investor base has figured [freestanding, net-leased properties] out,” said Craig Macnab of National Retail Properties. “As a result, there’s a supply-demand imbalance. More people want to get on the gravy train.”

The low cost of financing is helping the retail sector in part by driving up purchase prices, said Joseph Cosenza, vice chairman of Inland Real Estate Corp.

Joseph Cosenza

Cosenza believes the low rates will last a while, noting the federal government’s statement that it won’t do anything to cause interest rates to rise until the unemployment rate drops to 6.5 percent. “That’s going to take a while,” he said.

The entire episode of interviews with retail REIT CEOs is available for download at www.CREshow.com. The next “Commercial Real Estate Show” will examine commercial lease issues.

For a complete copy of the company’s news release, please contact:

Stephen Ursery
The Wilbert Group
404.405.2354


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