Category: Leasing
Last Minute Shifts to Last-Mile Delivery Centers: Considerations for Retail Landlords
Owners of shopping centers and other retail spaces are again increasingly looking to novel uses, including distribution and warehouse uses , sometimes called “fulfillment centers”, to fill growing vacancies. These emerging uses raise a number of potential legal issues. The retail industry is undergoing what appears to be a...
Court Partially Excuses Tenant’s Rent Obligations During COVID Shutdown
In the social and economic fallout from COVID, businesses are assessing how best to address their commercial relationships, especially where potentially insurmountable barriers to performance loom large. One clause that concerns performance impossibility has gained increasing recognition in this crisis. “Force majeure” contract clauses long have existed in contracts. Largely...
2019 ICSC Law Conference Recap
Last week, over 1,500 members of the retail law industry came together at this year’s 49 th International Council of Shopping Center (ICSC) U.S. Law Conference that was held in San Diego from October 23 through October 25, 2019. Those in attendance ranged from counsel from outside law firms...
“Retail Apocalypse: The End – Or A New Beginning?”
The last several years have been treacherous for the retail sector. Changing shopping patterns and shifting demographics have led some commentators to declare that the (retail) apocalypse is upon us . And while we have seen numerous mega-bankruptcies, including Sears, Toys ‘R Us, Borders, Payless Shoes and Radio Shack...
REIT Issues for Retail Leasing Professionals
As retail leasing continues to evolve, real estate investment trust (REIT) landlords, retail tenants and the business / advisory teams on both sides will want to ensure that REIT issues are surfaced and negotiated before the lease is signed, averting unpleasant surprises and renegotiations down the road. With proper...
We’re Here for the Food Hall Party
Time to Eat, Drink and Socialize!If you haven’t eaten at a food hall yet… it is likely only a matter of time before you do. They are popping up all over the country and are gaining popularity. Unlike traditional mall food courts, food halls typically include higher end and trendy concepts all within one...
‘Tis Always the Season for a Pop-up
With Tax Day just around the corner, there is a good chance that you find yourself (along with millions of other Americans) scrambling to get your taxes filed at the last minute. You also might notice the temporary tax service shops that seem to pop up at the local...
Three Trends Driving Consumer Behavior in the Retail Real Estate Business
Goulston & Storrs partners Nancy Davids, Matt Epstein, Karen O’Malley and David Rabinowitz recently sat down with Forbes to discuss how changes in consumer behavior continue to drive evolution in the retail real estate business. The group identified three key trends through a collaborative discussion with Forbes contributor Richard Kestenbaum...
Down But Not Out: Using Showrooms to Revamp Brick and Mortar Retail
Recent trends such as pop-ups suggest that consumers and retailers alike are not prepared to give up on brick and mortar stores, but that they are looking for more creative alternatives to the traditional arrangement. Clothing retailers have begun exploring use of showroom-style spaces to revitalize and reframe the shopping...
Following An Evolving Retail Scene In New York City
New York City, one of the world’s premier shopping destinations is about to get over one and a half million square feet of new retail space. Some will be delivered to Long Island City, an area that has been waiting for a retail resurgence for over 2 decades, and...
Bankruptcy Lease Auctions – Landlords Can Play Too
Toys “R” Us filed for bankruptcy in September 2017, with hopes that a strong holiday season would facilitate a successful reorganization. After holiday sales proved to be far less lucrative than the company and its professionals had hoped, the announcement was recently made that the company would commence store...
Settlement Opens Door For Outer Borough Outlet Centers
In August 2017, Simon Property Group (“SPG”) and the Office of the Attorney General of the State of New York (“NYAG”) entered into an Assurance of Discontinuance (the “Settlement”) regarding alleged anti-competitive effects of radius restrictions used by SPG in leases at the Woodbury Common Premium Outlets (“Woodbury Commons&rdquo...
Vitamin D and Retail: But Not Without Due Diligence First
We’ve all read about the question marks floating around the fate of brick and mortar retail in America. Factors like the strength of e-commerce and shifting consumer preferences (such as the popularity of urban centers over suburbia and consumers’ yearn for experiences over traditional shopping trips) are challenging landlords...
Teavana and Whole Foods: Is the Pendulum Swinging in Favor of Protecting Mall Landlords Against Strategic Tenant Closures?
As mall landlords continue to see substantial tenant vacancies, some landlords have begun to challenge solvent tenants who decide to go dark before the end of their lease. In two important recent cases — Simon Property Group, L.P. v. Starbucks Corporation, Case No. 49D01-1708-PL-032170 (Indiana Superior Court) and Bellevue...
ICSC New York Deal Making (2017)
On December 6-7, the Javits Center played host to this years’ ICSC NY Deal Making Conference. ICSC featured a new format at this years’ Conference. In addition to the deal making opportunities on Wednesday and Thursday, ICSC partnered with retailers and leading real estate companies to present several hour...
Cannes Brick and Mortar Retail in the United States Make a Comeback?
2017 MAPIC Conference in Cannes, France Last week, a contingent from Goulston & Storrs attended the annual MAPIC conference in Cannes (pronounced “Can”), France for the seventh consecutive year. We expected to field questions about the challenges facing brick and mortar retailers in the United States as well as...
Surprises For International Retailers Coming to the USA
We are all aware that stateside landlords long for that new, fresh idea—something they can show off at their mall or street location and that can’t be found in every mall in every city in the country. Successful international retailers are aware of this potentially lucrative avenue to increase...
Medtail: Why Your Doctor Is Treating You in a Strip Mall
The retail universe is well aware of the hype that it is only a matter of time until brick and mortal retail succumbs to its online competitors . However, despite the “doom and gloom” we generally see in headlines, retail has actually remained stable and, in fact, is thriving...
The Cure For The Last Mile? Retooling Shopping Malls as E-commerce Distribution Centers
In addition to gigantic warehouses that e-commerce companies are constructing away from population centers where real estate is limited or too pricey, shopping malls and former shopping mall sites are well poised to be the newest e-commerce logistics and distribution hubs. With the deluge of vacant malls and vacant...
End Of An Era Or Simply a Moment In Time?
What conclusions can we draw from the increasing vacancy rates in prime NYC retail real estate ? A momentary blip? Something we’ve seen many times before, only to be followed by the inevitable climb in rents to their customary stratospheric levels? Analysts claim that rents in the retail sweet...
ICSC Mid-Atlantic Conference & Deal Making Recap
With seemingly all of the country’s attention focused on Washington DC lately, we snuck out of the District and across the Potomac River to National Harbor last week for ICSC's 2017 Mid-Atlantic Conference and Deal Making. The conference was very well attended, and the mood among attendees and presenters...
Oh the Sidewalks Outside Are Frightful, But Landlords Will Make Them Delightful… or Will They?
Although we haven’t seen much snow accumulation in the northeast to date, we know that this can (and likely will) change before the warmer weather returns. Before the snow really begins to fall, it would behoove both landlords and tenants to become informed about their snow clearing responsibilities and...
Upscale Food Halls—On Trend and On The Rise
The growth of high-end food halls is taking off around the country as consumers seek fast, fresh, high-quality, chef-driven meals with a local touch, and as landlords seek to cash in on the continued growth of fast-casual dining. These boutique-style, upscale food halls are modeled more after famous European...
Are Prohibited Uses Prohibiting Opportunity?
Despite how it may sometimes seem when in the throes of negotiating a lease between a shopping center landlord and a retail tenant, the overarching goals of the two parties are aligned. Both parties want the tenant to be successful and want the landlord’s shopping center to be active...
New Lease Accounting Rules Are Final: Retailers and, Ultimately, Landlords Can Expect Changes
We recently wrote about expected changes to the rules governing the way leases are accounted for on balance sheets and suggested the changes would have major implications for retailer tenants and longer term implications for landlords. Late last week, as expected, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued a suite...
Change in Lease Accounting Rules to Have Major Impact for Retailers, and Ultimately, Landlords Too
Rules governing the way leases are accounted for on balance sheet rules are expected to change in the first quarter of 2016 with major implications for retailer tenants and longer term implications for landlords. Today, real estate leases are generally not accounted for on most tenants’ balance sheets. That is...
A Case of Caution: the Effect of Redevelopment on Existing Mall Leases
In a follow-up to coverage regarding the White Flint Mall redevelopment, the jury has reached a verdict. Until recently, White Flint Mall in Bethesda, Maryland was a prime example of retail mall success. However, as the mall began to lose tenants and customers, its owner decided to redevelop the...
Blowdryers and Flatirons: The Real Estate Market Heats Up with Salon Suites
For years the price of entry for solo entrepreneurs in the health and beauty category was high. With similar fixed startup costs as any professional practice would have, such as real estate, insurance, supplies, but with much slimmer profit margins, stylists and aestheticians were often relegated to renting chairs...