Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Issue link: https://sct.epubxp.com/i/231459
Secret, Whole Foods, Taco Bell and Trader Joe's, and we want them, and others," he said. It is a numbers game, of course, which is why the company plays up the 25 million total Nordic population, and this strategy is beginning to resonate with retailers; last year Debenhams opened a store in Estonia, and Starbucks opened shops in Sweden. Around 30 percent of GazitGlobe's 600 shopping centers are in Europe, 60 percent are in North America, and the rest are in Brazil and Israel. Gazit-Globe focuses on urban anchored shopping centers. "The big move we've made in the last three to four years is out of secondary and into primary markets," said Katzman. "In the U.S. we have sold around $750 million dollars of shopping centers, and around $340 "It was much easier in 2009 to 2012. There are not as many opportunities for us right now, but we will be patient. million in Canada, recycling a lot of that capital into new purchases. Today we own some of the largest shopping centers in New York, Toronto, Boston, San Francisco, Stockholm, Warsaw and Prague, among others." But finding the right centers to buy is increasingly difficult, Katzman says. "It was much easier in 2009 to 2012," he said. "There are not as many op- portunities for us right now, but we will be patient." Despite such a tight supply line of suitable properties, Gazit-Globe knows where to seek new opportunities. "We are focusing on building our platform in Brazil," said Katzman. "We have finished our first development at Rio Grande do Sul [Brazil's southernmost and wealthiest state) and are getting ready to start a redevelopment in São Paulo. We have no plans to enter the Chinese market; I have spent time over there and think that China is currently oversupplied, and China and India are markets we do not fully understand." Katzman, a 30-year veteran of the industry, oversees $20 billion in assets in some 20 countries worldwide. But he is not focused only on making money. In 2011 he founded the Gazit-Globe Real Estate Institute at Israel's Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, an academic and research program that will eventually offer a master's degree in real estate, with concentrations in housing, land use and real estate financing. Retail fundamentals are changing radically, Katzman says. "It's not enough to work on the outside of the center, you need to make it a fantastic place to visit," he said. "Bricks and clicks are converging, and clicks can be your worst enemy or your best friend. We are trying to make it our best friend by focusing on what people want, which is not just buying things. It's a social place to congregate and have quality time. You monetize it by having the best restaurants, good forms of entertainment, and necessity shops for food and other essentials," he said. "The beauty of retail is that it never stops reinventing itself, and people see the value of a place where they can congregate. Our job is to attract these people." SCT J an uar y 201 4 / SCT 55