Shopping Center Business is the leading monthly business magazine for the retail real estate industry.
Issue link: http://shoppingcenterbusiness.epubxp.com/i/903727
INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS 84 • SHOPPING CENTER BUSINESS • December 2017 T o get a pulse on the national in- vestment sales market for retail properties, as well as large buyers' appetites for retail assets, Shopping Cen- ter Business recently held an institution- al investor roundtable in New York City in partnership with Crossman & Co. In attendance were several of the largest buyers and owners of retail assets in the country, as well as a number of opportu- nistic developer/owners who acquire in- stitutional-sized properties. Participants this year were all bullish on the retail sec- tor, and many cited reasons how they are ensuring their properties success against e-commerce and store closures. Attending this year's roundtable were: Gar Herring, president and CEO of The MGHerring Group; David Harvey, pres- ident of Fairbourne Properties; George Fryer, director of AEW Capital; Lauren Holden, senior vice president of Clarion Partners; Tom Falatko, senior vice pres- ident, multi-tenant transactions of VE- REIT; Ed Senenman, senior managing director, investments and portfolio man- agement, Sterling Organization; Doron Valero, managing partner, Global Fund Investments; Cathy Clark, executive vice president, Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust; Ross Cooper, president and chief investment officer of Kimco; Bernadette Mussell, vice president, acquisitions of L&B; Realty Advisors; John Ragland, managing director, head of retail for TH Real Estate; and Barry Carty, vice presi- dent, East Coast acquisitions at Federal Realty Investment Trust. John Crossman, president of Crossman & Co., and Whit- ney Knoll, executive managing director of Crossman & Co. hosted the event at ICSC's headquarters in Manhattan. Shopping Center Business Editor Ran- dall Shearin moderated the roundtable. SHOPPING CENTER BUSINESS : To start off with, if you all would just introduce yourselves and give an overview of your current activity in retail. GAR HERRING : I am president and CEO of The MGHerring Group. Our company traditionally developed enclosed regional malls. My father was chairman of ICSC in 1982-1983, so I truly grew up in the mall development business. Today, we're focused more on acquiring and repurpos- ing challenged malls. We've been scouring the country for opportunities where we can buy a distressed mall and repurpose it into other uses or different types of retail using our development expertise and mall relationships. DAVID HARVEY : I'm president of Fair- bourne Properties, which is the operat- ing joint venture arm for the family office that owns Ashley Furniture. We will reach our second year in business at the end of 2017. We are backed by a strong perform- ing retailer and believe that there are other strong performing categories of retailers. We think that the negative headlines have created buying opportunities. We're pur- suing power centers. We currently have 10 centers under management containing 3.5 million square feet and by year end, we will have 4 million square feet in a portfo- lio valued at $1.1 billion. GEORGE FRYER : I'm the director of shop- ping center investments for AEW Capital Management. AEW has $66 billion worth of assets under management globally, rep- resented by both direct real estate and real estate securities; roughly half of that is do- mestic. We don't subscribe to the retail apocalypse and remain active in shopping center investing. We're on track to close on $450 million of deals this year; approx- imately $100 million more than we've av- eraged since the recession. Right now, we're really looking for dis-locations in the capital markets that provide a pricing advantage, which we think translates to strong power centers perhaps in second- ary markets. LAUREN HOLDEN : I'm with Clarion Part- ners. Clarion is an investment manage- ment firm with $44 billion of assets under management; invested on behalf of insti- tutional clients through separate accounts Finding Value Institutional investors are seeking value in core and core-plus acquisitions. Competition remains heated for top retail assets in primary markets. Roundtable moderated by Randall Shearin (Left to right) Ed Senenman, Doron Valero, Whitney Knoll, Cathy Clark, Ross Cooper and Bernadette Mussell at SCB 's Institutional Roundtable.