A weekend Wall Street Journal piece highlights the gross overbuilding of retail space around the U.S., naming Dallas one of the markets most saturated with new shopping space. The story cites MG Herring Group of Dallas, which is building a shopping mall North of Dallas—the president of the company says of that area, “there aren’t enough tenants to go around …” So if tenants aren’t flocking to suburbia, I wonder how companies such as The Weitzman Group (Casa Linda Plaza leasing agents) are faring insofar as filling vacancies desirable tenants … and keeping tenants around, for that matter. Not to mention all the vacancies and new development about town.
Most recent news and continued construction indicates optimism — though we are still waiting to learn specifics about tenants — especially at the Casa Linda Theater (which is being leased by S.C. Companies, not Weitzman, by the way).
Yes, times are tough all over. But on this day of economic gloom and doom, could there possibly be an upside to this story? Well, for all of you retailers and small business proprietors who aren’t struggling too badly, this could be your chance—the aforementioned overbuilding means “cheaper rents, shorter lease terms and fatter allowances from landlords for outfitting stores … this year, the rents in new lease signings are 10.4 percent lower on average than the asking price, down from the 9.3 percent discount of two years ago,” according to the article.
