Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Issue link: https://sct.epubxp.com/i/62026
ON THE GROUND: LONG ISLAND, N.Y. Landlords enjoy an enviably low vacancy rate The Long Island retail market can be very confusing for anyone who does not live in the New York metro area. Geographi- cally, this fish-shaped island is just over 20 miles wide and stretches 118 miles eastward from the borough of Manhat- tan into the Atlantic Ocean. But the most westward expanse of geophysical Long Island consists of the New York City bor- oughs of Brooklyn and Queens, which are therefore not considered part of the Long Island market. Research), in Boston. Some 454,000 square feet of space is currently under construction, about 330,000 square feet of that comprising just one de- velopment: The Gallery at Westbury Plaza, whose developer is Equity One. The long eastern end of the island is very rural, too, leaving a dense concen- tration of the population in Nassau and western Suffolk counties. These are all older suburban communities — some of them extremely wealthy, most of them middle class, and a few at the lower end of the economic scale. Expansion is diffi- cult because most of the land has already been developed. Total retail inventory stands at 124 million square feet, according to Aaron Jodka, manager of U.S. market research at PPR (Property and Portfolio Much of the rest of the activ- ity consists of redevelopment and expansion of existing malls. Perhaps the largest measure of excitement sur- rounds Simon Property Group's Roosevelt Field, in Garden City, the eighth-largest mall in the country, at 2.2 million square feet. "Roosevelt Field is going through a transi- tion," said Al Centrella, a principal of NAI Long Island, in Melville. "When a store lease expires, a high-end store goes in." Indeed, alongside a planned $200 million expansion at Roosevelt Field, the big news was Simon Property's announcement in March that the mall had secured the first Neiman Marcus store on Long Island. Simon Property is also reworking what Centrella calls Long Island's second major mall: Walt Whitman Shops, in Huntington Station. THE METS STORE, AT ROOSEVELT FIELD Long Island's malls appear solid at a 1.1 percent average vacancy rate, says Jodka, though rents through the end of last year were slipping, which is indicative of the market as a whole. The general vacancy rate for all of Long Island retail is a very decent 5.3 percent, and it has been in that range for about a year, says Jodka. The trouble is that the market actually looks healthier than it is because landlords have been very aggressive. "The space is full, but landlords are still giving con- cession," said Jodka. "Lease rates are walking sideways. Quoted rental rates are $22.21 a square foot." PLAINVIEW CENTRE IN THE HAMLET OF PLAINVIEW, PART OF THE TOWN OF OYSTER BAY, N.Y. The Long Island market has had to contend with not just empty big-box space, but also with the bankruptcy of A&P;, which has resulted in the closings of numerous grocery stores. The good news, Centrella says, is that most of the closed big boxes have been leased, and so have the vacant supermarkets, through the expansion of such grocery names as Best Yet Market, ShopRite and Uncle Giuseppe's, and of a host of fitness shops, including LA Fitness and Retro Fitness. Dick's Sporting Goods is expand- ing too, and Harbor Freight Tools opened five stores on Long Island last year. Fast-food and chain restaurants have been aggressive, Chick-fil-A, Five Guys, Pinkberry and Smashburger, among them. Red Robin and Sonic recently opened their first Long Island restaurants. "All the old Circuit City and Linens 'n Things stores have been filled in," said Centrella. "You turn around and deals are being made. These A&P; grocery store spaces won't last long." — Steve Bergsman 228 SCT / MAY 2012