Am curious to understand the 'situation' that justifies leaving retail spaces empty for years when nearby spaces have less issues being leased. Cordish branding?DColeKC wrote: ↑Wed Oct 12, 2022 8:42 amThey’re in constant communication with the city and if the city had any concerns on how the district was being operated they’d voice those concerns publicly. No one is saying they’ve been “too” selective that’s in the loop because they’re witnessed the efforts made. It’s easy to sit here and be critical when you know nothing about the situation and only have the vacancy comps to lean on.earthling wrote: ↑Tue Oct 11, 2022 8:06 pm Having followed the retail sector for 20 years (and as a CRE PE investor) am not aware of spaces never once leased out for many years despite incentives when nearby districts vacancy is essentially ideal (nearly all of these not receiving incentives). Cordish has been a great catalyst for downtown but they have also perhaps added risk related to city bonds by being unnecessarily too selective on the retail end. And yes, using essentially the same curtain wall for all residential buildings is worthy of perpetual criticism.
Good news on curtain wall is they didn’t essentially use the same material. If your complaint is the towers look too similar than carry on with your criticism of them executing that purposeful plan.
This has been a lost opportunity for revenue and reducing risk related to city bonds (meanwhile rest of downtown higher occupied). Pursuing any retailer that downtown could use and being less concerned about being 'on brand' as you often put it would reduce risk further. Given the incentives, reduced lease rates would outweigh the zero revenue generation for many years (even before pandemic). Given P&L is a public/private partnership, the 'situation' should be disclosed publicly.
On curtain wall, different materials with same curtain design is still essentially the same curtain design. If each building doesn't have its own identity, it becomes 'the projects'.