Commercial Real Estate Investing From A-Z Leasing Retail Property to National Tenants and What to Look for During Due Diligence (Part 1 of 2)
Today we’re interviewing James Chung, he is the Executive Managing Director and Managing Principal for the Western US for Cushman & Wakefield's Retail platform. He has been with the company for 15 years and has worked with over 30 national tenants and over 9 million sf of retail across the Bay Area in Silicon Valley. Some of his clients are: AT&T, Chase Bank, Adidas, In&Out Burger, and Sur La Table.
Read the full interview here: https://montecarlorei.com/leasing-retail-property-to-national-tenants-and-what-to-look-for-during-due-diligence-part-1-of-2/
Tips for Listing Retail Properties for Lease and What to Charge Tenants per Square Foot
First you need to understand the health of the shopping center, and one way to do that is to understand the health ratio of the tenants. The health ratio is the relationship between gross sales and total occupancy cost. Then go through the health ratio tenant by tenant, and understand if the rent they're paying is equitable to their sales performance. The challenge with pricing is that geography will often dictate pricing. However, you can have an asset next door to you charging half the rent! Part of that reason is co-tenancy, part of it is how updated the center is, part of it is who anchors the center, as well as how accessible the center is. Retail is not commoditized in the way where we can say "By virtue of being on this block or that block, your rent should be X", it's like when you are getting comps for a home, the price/sf in that area gives you an indication, but it is within 10 to 20 to 30% of where things could be, depending on the home itself. Block-by-block can change dramatically. Are the tenants in place at highest and best use for the positions that they are in the shopping center? What are the lease expiration dates, who's lease is coming up and when, who is healthy or not, where we could reposition tenants, etc.
What are Good Types of Tenants to Have in Your Center?
It depends on the opportunity, if it's a neighborhood shopping center, the most coveted asset class would be a grocery anchored shopping center. One of the most desirable investment opportunities for people, especially in the Bay Area are grocery-anchored centers in the retail space. If you're in any neighborhood, if there is a strong national grocery tenant who is the hub of the center - that is typically the most desirable. Besides that, there are lots of asset classes like malls, lifestyle centers, outlet malls, and so many different types of shopping centers, but if he had to pick one, he would probably say grocery anchored.
How Can We Make Money in Retail When the Cap Rates Are so Low in This Market, and What Should We Look For in a Deal?
Low cap rates are actually not necessarily a bad thing if the income on the property is under market. Even if you're paying 3.5% cap on a deal but the rent is 50% of what it should be, that's when market intelligence comes into play, and understanding how things are being underwritten. There is currently a compression in cap rates just by virtue of geography and being in Silicon Valley, but there still are great opportunities out there, you just may not find them listed openly. It's about understanding how to unlock the value in whatever asset you're looking at because there are many ways to skin the cat, and oftentimes people are looking at it very one-dimensionally, when in fact there may be multiple ways to create value.
Contact James Chung here: http://www.cushmanwakefield.com/en/people/james-chung