Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Issue link: https://sct.epubxp.com/i/109754
prepared. "If it was just about leasing space, if it didn't make any sense for me to even entertain the locations they were presenting to me, then my time was being wasted," Barocas said. "At GGP what I try to instill in my team is the idea that if we are going to be successful, we must better understand our retailers." That means talking things over with colleagues, poring over annual reports, studying transcripts of CEO chat sessions with analysts — in short, using any available information to get a better feel for chains' growth strategies, fashion propositions, real estate priorities, target customers and the like. "You also need to know how all of those factors fit in with regard to the particular center you're talking about," Barocas said. And in today's more competitive market, negotiations are more likely to hinge on sensitive issues, such as a chain's insistence on restrictive lease clauses, which may not be in the best interest of the center. In such a nuanced environment, landlords need savvy and talented leasing agents with extraordinary drive and people skills, Barocas says. "If you ask executives on either side of the table, they will agree that getting good people is one of the imperatives in this business," he said. "Deals are more challenging today. More people are potentially involved in the decision-making process. We need to latch onto the human capital that's out there and find the movers and shakers for tomorrow." FREDERICK COLLINGS Frederick Collings loves to look down the hallway and see that his leasing team is out of the office. This is not because Collings, SCLS, SCSM, senior vice president of leasing at The Irvine Co. Retail Properties, loves solitude. He just happens to prefer a tried-and-true approach to real estate: "We tell our deal makers, 'Look, we want you out of the office all the time,' " he said. "You 36 SCT / M A R C H 2 0 1 3 cannot sell a good piece of real estate via e-mail. You have to talk face-to-face with people. You need to see the stores, feel the merchandise and learn how different concepts work. Part of the challenge today is to get new deal makers out of the office and onto the street, which is where the next hot retail concepts are to be found." Collings, now in his 39th year in the industry, has worked in top-level leasing and management positions for Ernest W. Hahn Co., Macerich, RED Development, Westcor Partners and Westfield. He has helped lease urban villages, suburban lifestyle centers, blue-chip malls — including South Coast Plaza, in Costa Mesa, Calif., and Fashion Island, in Newport Beach, Calif. — and just about everything in between. While leasing requires multiple skills, Collings attributes much of his success to what he describes as a customer-centric focus. "In leasing, your customer is the retailer," he said. "Being fair and honest is a given. The deal you're working on today is important, but you also have to keep in mind the next deal you might want to do with that retailer. If you make the process seamless, easy and comfortable, the client will want to come back and do business with you again." These may be old-school principles, but they are all the more important in today's marketplace, where retailers have more real estate choices than ever, Collings says. Chains that used to open 60 stores a year in the U.S. alone might now roll out only half that many here and abroad combined. These tenants typically receive dozens of site submittals from landlords every week. The importance of individual deals, in other words, is greater than ever, which is why retailers are demanding — and receiving — an unprecedented amount of sales data from landlords. "Twenty years ago you would never discuss the sales of a given center," Collings said. "Today our business is driven by projected sales volume. So it behooves us as landlords to really understand the business model of any type of retailer and to know: 'OK, this is what they can actually afford to pay.' " Amid these changes, Collings advises deal makers to become experts on the tenants they target. "If I had to go back and start over, the absolute first thing I would do is learn as much as possible about retailers' businesses," Collings said. "You want to really understand what your customer is trying to tell you." ROBERT M. COLEMAN When Uniqlo opens at Pyramid Cos.' Palisades Center this month, some shoppers will be catching their very first glimpse of an increasingly popular retailer often called "the Gap of Japan." Of course, what they will not see is all of the time and effort that went into wooing Uniqlo to this West Nyack, N.Y., regional mall in the first place. The behind-the-scenes activity included the leasing team's meetings with Shin Odake, CEO of Uniqlo's U.S. division, plus a nearly 7,000-mile flight to Uniqlo's headquarters, in Tokyo. "It was a great experience," said Robert M. WHEN MEETING WITH RETAILERS, DO MORE LISTENING THAN TALKING, ADVISES ROBERT M. COLEMAN.