Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
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RET AILING TODA Y doubt, is that these spaces sit on two lev- els. Landlords are having to get really cre- ative on how they backfill these spaces." Douglas Green, a principal at Phila- delphia-based brokerage firm Michael Salove Co., is trying to lease two of the eight bookstore locations in that mar- ket, which has similar issues. Size is an- other constraint. The spaces are too big for the affluent suburban areas along Philadelphia's Main Line (the string of towns built along the old Pennsylvania Railroad line). "Every single broker will tell you in this market that the process is going a lot slower than expected," Green said. Indeed, no one could have antici- pated this, he says, given how swiftly the market's Linens 'n Things and Circuit City spaces had gone. Up to now, landlords have held out for better options. But co-tenancy clauses that allow tenant rent reductions from landlords if key anchors or a cer- tain number of retailers vacate space may be forcing landlords to act now. Many Borders stores have been closed for six months or longer. "Landlord were get- ting nice, big, fat rents from Borders," Mehl said. "It's starting to set in, and what you're going to see is creativity." Then there is the question of what to do with any post-division leftover space. Weingarten Realty Advisors, a Houston REIT that owns 380 shopping centers nationwide, chose to carve out some of- fice space for its own use at the back of one of its centers in Atlanta. "When we chop up a box, we have dead space in the back," said Patty Bender, executive vice president and director of leasing at We- ingarten. "We thought we would have that, but we were enticed to move to that space for our central mid-Atlantic offices. We will open in August." The firm will be sharing the space with Massage Envy, Party City, The School Box (a teacher's supply store) and two restaurants. In an old Borders at the Emeryville Public Market, in the San Francisco Bay Area, Urban Outfitters will share space with Guitar Center, according to TMG Partners, the property's developer- managers. In New York City Winick Re- alty Group brokered a deal for a Duane Reade, which says it will open a store by early this summer in part of the three- level Borders in the financial district. Owner Madison Capital divided the space in two. Duane Reade will occupy half of the ground level space plus the entire upper floor. The remaining space is now being marketed. "Our first choice would be a fashion retailer," said Darrell Rubens, executive vice president of Winick, which began marketing the space in March. SCT 285 3$66,21 ,6 285 0,66,21 ±8S TVSZMHI XLI JMRIWX VMWO QEREKIQIRX ERH MRWYVERGI WIVZMGIW XLEX TSWMXMZIP] MQTEGX SYV GPMIRXW´ XSXEP GSWX SJ VMWO ² ;I HIPMZIV SYV QMWWMSR XLVSYKL SYV TVSTVMIXEV] 'SRGMIVKI 6MWO 1EREKIQIRX 7IVZMGI 1SHIP 7+( $57 2) 5,6. 0$1$*(0(17 3YV *SGYW MW =SYV 4IEGI SJ 1MRH &3%6(1%2 -2(-%2%430-7 (4-4-23 '31 :MWMX 9W MR 0EW :IKEW EX 6I'SR 1EVOIXTPEGI 1EPP &SSXL; 44 SCT / MAY 2012 &32-8% 746-2+7