The New England Real Estate Journal, in it's monthly Shopping Center Section, today ran an article by Dehorah Foehr.
Quote." The opening quarter was desolate for most commercial brokers.It didn't matter if at was office or retail, almost no one was looking.
Retail brokers were especially hard hit as tenants they had spent years with building relationships, began closing stores and completely halting expansion.
Almost totally, the retailers who had been waiting for 'any availability' in certain locations were no longer waiting: they were not funding new locations for 2009 or 2010 ....on the other hand some firms savvy retailers see this blight as an invitation to get into Connecticut at better prices than over the past ten years..."
So the down market is NOT just in Massachusetts!
As far as scooping space at "bargain prices, I think just too many retail owners grossly overpaid, or over financed, their shopping centers, retail and office assets. They need high rent to managed debt service. However increasing vacancies in a great number of 'centers' is troubling and the financial storm clouds are heading are way.
Also I believe that many cities and towns will now begin( 2010) to raise the "assessments" and real estate tax bills on many centers due to the fiscal municipal crunch.
Shopping centers owners and investors are in very precarious waters making many bankers and financial institutions very nervous.
Bill McInerney
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