Shopping Center Business is the leading monthly business magazine for the retail real estate industry.
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MOONBEAM 92 • SHOPPING CENTER BUSINESS • December 2016 M oonbeam Leasing & Man- agement, which is part of the Moonbeam Capital Invest- ments group of companies and handles property management and leasing for its affiliates, is known for its expertise in making underperforming properties come alive again. These days, that result requires more creativity than ever before. "We take a methodical approach to re- purposing a property," states Steven Mak- sin, Moonbeam's chief executive officer. "First, we stabilize the asset. Second, we engage in detailed and thorough market and property analysis. Third, we do a void analysis, to evaluate which uses are miss- ing from the market. Fourth, we collabo- rate extensively with local government on our strategy. Getting local government on board and cooperating with our efforts to turn a property around for the benefit of the community is essential." Moonbeam's forte is creating and exe- cuting successful strategies to revitalize or repurpose underperforming properties. "We have an enviable track record of be- ing able to stabilize an asset, analyze the market, and develop a winning game plan for that asset," says Shawl Pryor, Moon- beam's senior vice president. This is evident across Moonbeam's diverse portfolio of managed properties, which in addition to malls and shopping centers, includes office buildings, apart- ments and hotels. Some of the firm's most recent and visible efforts have in- cluded leasing big box and other former retail space to categories of tenants that might have seemed like a stretch 10 years ago, but today are rejuvenating traditional indoor malls. At West Oaks Mall in Ocoee, Flori- da, Moonbeam worked with Xerox to remodel a state-of-the-art 70,000-square foot former Sears anchor space into a cus- tomer center for the Florida Department of Transportation managed by the Xerox affiliate. SunPass Centralized Customer Service Center will consolidate opera- tions that process more than one billion transactions related to the state's prepaid toll program each year and manage more than five million accounts. This mixed- use concept with Xerox's affiliate has set the stage for Moonbeam to look at pos- sibilities for similar repurposing strategies elsewhere. "A lot of retailers are now involved in online shopping, but even if they may need less brick and mortar space for in-person shopping, they still need space for back-end support," Pryor says. "By managing so much commercial property, especially shopping malls, we can make those non-retail deals work for them. Malls already have the infrastructure that retailers need for back-end operations, such as high volume parking, which makes the conversion or repurposing of a big box more cost-effective than a build to suit option." In addition to online shopping custom- er support centers and governmental-part- nered service providers, Moonbeam also courts community-based tenants, such as gyms, karate studios, tax services and medical users for shorter-term leases to keep shopping malls and centers active Moonbeam: Working The Alternatives Moonbeam thinks outside the box and is incorporating non-retail uses into what were once traditional indoor malls and shopping centers. Randall Shearin and Lynn Peisner A rendering for the proposed redevelopment at West Oaks Mall in Ocoee, Florida. Moonbeam is converting a former Sears location at West Oaks Mall in Ocoee, Florida, to a customer service center for the state's pre-paid toll roads program. Rendering by Cuhaci & Peterson