Tweet I consider myself to be fairly competent in matters concerning retail commercial real estate. It is a rare occasion when I am completely unable to grasp even a basic understanding of a concept or characteristic relating to any particular property. Today I find myself in exactly this position. The graph below has me completely [...]
Tweet Fresh & Easy has announced that they are closing 13 stores in the Las Vegas (6 closings), Phoenix (6 closings) and Inland Empire (1 closing) markets. This represents about 8% of the 168 total Fresh & Easy stores. I guess its a good sign that they are willing to pull the plug on underperforming [...]
Tweet I was just looking through the list of the 145 stores in which Blockbuster will be cancelling leases and closing as an initial step in their bankruptcy process. The list shows the monthly rent for each of these locations. A few of the rental figures caught my attention as being inordinately high and I [...]
Tweet This is my first post in a very long time. The only reason I am posting today is because I didn’t really have to do anything to put this post up. The following analysis is from an email I just received breaking down a recently listed retail center. Needless to say, the property is [...]
Tweet The Phoenix Business Journal published a not-so-surprising article this past Friday about the state of retail shopping centers in the Phoenix MSA. The article paints a dismal picture for the state of retail in Phoenix. According to David Wetta, director of Marcus & Millichap’s national retail group, there are 1,753 retail properties in the [...]
Tweet Bill Gross, PIMCO’s revered managing director, has just published his most recent investment outlook. In it, he calls the end of the recent market rally and warns of a necessity to come to grips with the fact that a new normal is headed our way. The closing sentences sum up his point nicely and [...]
Tweet Vitamin Shoppe has just completed an IPO, raising about $155 million. You can read more about it at DealBook. What I thought was most interesting was the fact that this was first I.P.O. by a traditional retailer since December 2007! The proceeds from the offering are being used to pay down debt and to [...]
Tweet Below is the text of an email I received this morning from a broker seeking investment property submissions from the CRE community. The only problem is that the stated requirement is a buyer’s dream wish list and it warrants nothing more than an immediate “delete.” Here is the email: Please forward me available properties [...]
Tweet This is just a quick follow-up post about Fresh & Easy. I mentioned in my last post about Fresh & Easy that I had recently heard radio advertisements for F&E. Well coincidentally, I spotted a Fresh & Easy skyscraper ad on the home page of 89.9 KCRW while looking up the name of a [...]
Tweet I wanted to make another quick point on CRE underwriting as it relates to vacancy. Some of the more “with it” sellers have begun allowing vacancy factors underwritten into their offering memorandums. What is often overlooked is the actual relation of the vacancy factor to operations. Often you will see a vacancy factor of [...]
Tweet I received a marketing brochure today that, quite frankly, left me a bit shocked. The property is a multi-tenant retail building in a power center in Southern California. The shocking part of the offering was that the seller and broker were NOT attempting to capitalize income from the vacant suites. Maybe CRE practitioners are [...]
Tweet Below is an interesting article published by the Arizona Republic on Tuesday. Based on the published numbers of $267 million in first half sales from 130 stores, Fresh & Easy’s full year sales should be approximately $534 million or $4.1 million per unit. The average Fresh & Easy store is 14,000 square feet so [...]
Tweet For those of you who have been reading this blog lately you will know that the overpriced deal of the week was already announced on Tuesday. To call Moreno Beach Plaza overpriced would be like saying Fresh & Easy is underperforming. So in honor of this new and (potentially) recurring post, I present you [...]
Tweet I had to share this. I have been talking to a shopping center owner about selling his strip center in SoCal. I just got the rent roll and operating statement. On the rent roll is an additional 25% of GLA (gross leasable area) that is not even built yet! Better yet, they believe they [...]