On today’s episode, Phil is joined by Matthew (Matt) Mason, a Managing Director at Conway MacKenzie, to talk store closures in 2019, challenges in retail real estate, and receiverships. Matt leads the Conway MacKenzie real estate vertical, has been a Court Appointed Receiver for over 200 properties, managed over 31.5 million square feet, and over $1 billion portfolio of retail, office, and industrial properties. With that experience, Matt provides strategic insight to large distressed retail and office assets for borrowers and lenders. Matt and Phil discuss current challenges in the commercial retail market, the headwinds of massive store closures in 2019, why those challenges are taking place and how to navigate them. Matt explains lessons learned from the 2008 crash, what is different about the current challenges in the market, and how to move forward. He goes on to discuss that many retailers are either struggling or gaining success, with very few in-between. Some discount retailers such as Target have gained success post market-crash, because they are now appealing to a market of buyers by producing a better quality discounted product. Phil and Matt go on to discuss that on the flip side, consumers are now buying products largely online, a method of consumerism that is greatly affecting the commercial retail market, leading to more disruption, store closures, and more experience driven retail.

Find out more about Matt and Conway MacKenzie here.

Check out the referenced article written on this topic by Matt and his colleague Lauren Leech.

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Joining Phil this episode are Marget Graham and Jaime Bertsche of Mid-America Real Estate Group, the leading full-service retail real estate organization in the Midwest. During this holiday time, we always think of retail. Over the last few years, retail real estate has been beaten down in the markets and in the press, as it went through a tumultuous time. Marget and Jaime, key aspects of Mid-America’s third party landlord brokerage division, share the ways that large retail properties are being used in exciting new ways. Malls and other shopping centers are increasingly converting to mixed-use developments incorporating entertainment, residential and medical components and utilizing common spaces to attract new tenants and customers. Some shopping centers even have swim schools where retail used to be!

Marget Graham is a Principal/Vice President responsible for co-managing new business development and leasing efforts in the Mid-America Asset Management portfolio. She has been with Mid-America Asset Management since 2000 and has specialized solely in Landlord representation. Jaime Bertsche, Vice President, has been with Mid-America Asset Management since 2004, also specializing solely in Landlord representation. Marget and Jaime have extensive experience in an array of product types including mixed-use developments, specialty leasing of lifestyle centers, ground-up projects, power centers, traditional grocery anchored centers and urban retail properties. Through their work in each respective area, they have formed strong relationships with local, regional and national retailers.

Learn more about Marget here.

Learn more about Jaime here.

Learn more about Mid-America Real Estate Group here: http://www.midamericagrp.com/

Matt Mason of Conway MacKenzie – Store Closures, Distressed Retail Real Estate, and Receiverships

Episode 33 – Retail is Alive! Innovations in Retail Real Estate with Marget Graham and Jaime Bertsche of Mid-America Real Estate Group