New Retail Technologies, Ideas Showcased at RECon

Colliers’ Stephen Rusher, SVP of retail.

Part 2 of 3 LAS VEGAS— ICSC’s RECon Global Retail Real Estate Convention is coming up this Sunday through Tuesday at the Las Vegas Convention Center. With more than one million square feet of exhibit space, 36,000-plus attendees, and more than 1,000 exhibitors, you may be wondering where to start. Where GlobeSt.com started was with lots of preview coverage and opinions and forecasts from experts and attendees who will be there. We asked what their expectations were for the upcoming event. Tom Buxton , president and CEO of Buxton , which has set a record number of meetings for this year’s RECon, tells GlobeSt.com that he expects the event will be “outstanding.” Buxton says to “Look for new technologies and ideas to be showcased from a variety of vendors.” In particular, Buxton says, “expect to see new mobile technologies and solutions that use GPS data to help retailers understand where their customers are coming from.” Alexander Mehran, Jr. , president and COO of Sunset Development , is looking forward to marketing its new project designed by architect Renzo Piano Building Workshop. “The public and retail communities are looking forward to seeing this open in mid-2018.” According to Todd Sussman , SVP of brokerage at Colliers International , top discussions will most certainly hover around the result of large bankruptcies like Sports Authority and mergers like Walgreens / Rite Aid, Staples and others. ( A topic also thoroughly covered in the May issue of Real Estate Forum magazine). According to Sussman, all will leave the industry with “quite a few square feet to absorb in great locations. But he wonders who will back fill those spots. For Colliers’ Stephen Rusher , SVP of retail, getting a understanding of where we truly are in the cycle and can we buoy throughout 2016 is what is expected to be discussed. “There seems to be a general sentiment of investors trying to cash in before it’s too late or owners capturing a retailer before expansion plans get pulled back.” For Paul Travis , co-developer of City Point, a 1.8-million-square-foot Downtown Brooklyn development, he expects to see a moderate level of activity and an urban focus at the event. “When I first started attending ICSC in the early 1990s, the convention was dominated by latest mall being built and now the focus is on urban retail,” he tells GlobeSt.com. And RECon attendee Christopher Conlon , also co-developer of City Point, tells GlobeSt.com that this is his 25 ^th year attending the event. He explains that he has seen a shift from the event being specifically transaction focused and deal driven to now becoming a networking session for those in the retail industry to gather outlook on business from business stakeholders across all different platforms. One person looking forward to hearing feedback from its clients who will be there is Tanner McGraw , Apto founder and CEO. He is also looking forward to learning firsthand about emerging retail CRE trends and challenges that he can help address with his company’s technology. “We’re always excited to take part in conversations that are shaping the evolution of our industry.”