Shopping Centers Today

AUG 2017

Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)

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46 S C T / A U G U S T 2 0 1 7 Flood insurance continues to rise sharply for Florida's retail property owners By Steve McLinden S I T E S & C I T I E S T H E P L AC E S W H E R E R E TA I L D E V E LO P M E N T I S H OT Under water W ith rising tides come rising insurance rates. Though it has been about a dozen years since a major hurricane struck Florida, the cost of flood insurance for retail properties in the state keeps mounting amid predictions that sea levels could rise by up to 10 inches by 2030. Rates in the government-subsidized National Flood Insurance Program, run by FEMA, jumped by an average of 5.4 percent in April, following increases in 2016 that saw some owners pay as much as 25 percent more than they had in 2015. More such increases are imminent. "Unfortunately, we see no end in sight," said Douglas Jones, managing partner of Coral Gables, Fla.–based JAG Insurance Group, a property and casualty insurer. "Rates will continue to go up and up." It is not only hurricanes that are a threat. In Sunrise, Fla., south of Miami, back-to-back storms with record-break- ing rains inundated the parking lot of Sawgrass Mills in late spring, forcing the center's closure for three days, from June 7 to June 9. On June 10, flooding in central Florida caused a sinkhole to open up in a parking lot fronting Gaitway Plaza, in Ocala, swallowing a car and breaking a gas main that forced the shopping center's evacuation. Across the street, numerous vehicles were flooded in the parking lot of the Shady Oaks Shopping Center. Compounding industry concern is a lack of access to more-affordable private flood insurance. Banks have become skittish about advancing loans to prop- erty owners in high-risk zones near the water, says Jones. Much of the concern is over hurricane-related storm surges,

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