by David Bodamer December 4th, 2006
The New York National Conference and Deal Making kicked off this morning with a lively opening panel on trends impacting the industry. A big part of the discussion centered on the continuing wave of retailer privatizations and the effect they are having on the way shopping center owners and developers are doing business.—perhaps even more than many people had anticipated.
Owners involved in these deals say they aren’t just about real estate and are insisting they are in it to operate retailers and help turn around ones that have been suffering. Meanwhile, some panelists expressed reservations about the number buyouts that has occurred and wondered if privatizations are always the answer. Taking stock of how some of the more notable brands have fared—retailers like Kmart, Sears, Lord & Taylor, Toys ‘R’ Us and Mervyn’s—was a major theme.
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Related Topics: Conference Coverage, Mixed-Use, News, REITs, Retail Real Estate, Trends |
by David Bodamer December 1st, 2006
Urban Retail Properties just announced that it will be the retail development consultant for the $1.5 billion One Scottsdale project being built by DMB Associates.
The project is slated to begin construction in March and will open fall 2009. The project will feature 1.8 million square feet of retail and Class A office space, 400 resort and boutique hotel rooms and 1,100 residential units.
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Related Topics: Development, News, Retail Real Estate |
by David Bodamer December 1st, 2006
Earlier this week, Japan-based Sohgo Security Services announced a new mall approach to policing malls combining traditional personnel with new robot security guards.
The first test of the Reborg-Q system will go live at the AquaCity mall in Tokyo later this month.
American mall security firms haven’t gone quite that far, but are increasingly putting mall security personnel on Segways.
Related Topics: International, News, Quirky, Security |
by David Bodamer December 1st, 2006
Here’s where we will have a new, frequent conversation with our readers–alerting you to the interesting (and sometimes oddball) things we see every day as we scan the horizon of the retail real estate business. In the course of reporting and writing our newsletter and magazine, we hear lots of juicy tidbits and see all sorts of information about projects, deals and company moves. We’ll share those and provide links to provocative reports from around the media that illustrate key trends. We’ll also throw out some of our own observations on the big stories. And we hope you’ll throw some thoughts back at us via the blog’s comment feature.
If you have read-or written-blogs, you know that the best ones spice up the smart analysis and commentary with a bit of humor. So, we’ll be sharing the quirky and the ridiculous that we find and ask you to do the same. We’re eager to see how Retail Traffic Court evolves and look forward to receiving your feedback and contributions. This space will get continually tweaked and new features will be added in coming weeks and months. For example, on the bottom lefthand corner of our homepage, you’ll soon see a blogroll, linking to key news sources and interesting blogs covering retail and real estate.
Retail Traffic Court will also be the key place where we’ll file reports from the road on what’s happening at major industry trade shows. This blog is going live in conjunction with the ICSC New York National Conference & Deal Making starting on Monday. So look for updates all three days as we report on the panels, keynotes and bring you breaking news right from the show floor.
If you see me walking the floor, say hello. Better yet, stop by Booth 230 in the South Corridor at the Hilton (floor plan) and tell us how you think we’re doing at Retail Traffic. We’d love hear feedback and ideas on how we can continue to write about the industry and deliver the best coverage we can.
Related Topics: News |
