MIAMI—As retailers face pressure from Wall Street to increase revenue, the only way to grow is by increasing their store counts. During the recession, Rafael Wright, an investment sales associate at Franklin Street, reminds that retailers looked at business models and ways to decrease costs.

“Retailers most were relatively successful through the reduction in operating expenses and renegotiation of existing leases,” Wright says. “With a stronger economy, coupled with surging population growth in Florida, retailers are actively looking to add stores or reposition existing stores into better locations.”

Jason Fox, head of global investments at W. P. Carey, a global net lease REIT, says build-to-suit is a growing trend in Europe. WPC recently closed a $115-million build-to-suit transaction for the Rabobank headquarters in Eindhoven, the Netherlands with Dutch developer OVG Group. The construction is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2017.