Welcome to ICSC's RECon 2016

ICSC RECon opening gala.

LAS VEGAS—Welcome to ICSC’s RECon event here in Las Vegas! If you are one of the 40,000 or so individuals here, you might have attended last night’s opening reception (as we did) at the poolside at the Encore Beach Club. And to prepare for the event, we got a few retail thoughts from some of the experts in attendance. We caught up with attendee Christopher Conlon, co-developer of City Point, who said that e-retailers are no longer a separate entity and are seeking quality, high street locations for their platforms as seen with brands including Bonobos, Birchbox and Amazon who have forayed into brick-and-motor locations. Conlon also tells GlobeSt.com that market expansion is greenlighted, but he says that as rents increase, retailers are proceeding with caution in execution. He also points out that it is a strange time in terms of retailer performance in light of the Sports Authority, Fairway and Aéropostale closings. “With the evolution of retail, some brands become extinct.” New York City-based Faith Hope Consolo , chairman of retail leasing, marketing and sales division at Douglas Elliman Real Estate , tells GlobeSt.com that boundaries have been broken and that areas once dormant are front and center. She points out that the Brooklyn Navy Yard, for example is becoming a multi-faceted technology incubator, adding that Hudson Yards is epic. “Empire Outlets is Staten Island’s waterfront entertainment and shopping mecca, and American Dream in NJ has reinvented itself again. Every borough is bustling with headline news every day!” Fred Schmidt , president and COO of Coldwell Banker Commercial Affiliates , tells GlobeSt.com that one of the trends he sees in the retail market is that “The omni-channel trend of blending brick and mortar stores with e-commerce has flipped traditional retail metrics on their head. Figures like sales per square foot need to be looked at, and the industry needs to explore new key performance indicators to better represent this new way of doing business.” And when asked about expectations for this year’s RECon event, D. John Miller , founder and CEO of DJM Capital Partners , tells GlobeSt.com that “If you go back to 2009 when our industry was wrestling with the great recession, you saw a significant drop in the number of attendees at ICSC. Back then, people were just trying to survive—working to manage their portfolios and deal with property and capital issues.” Today, he continues, “we’re at all-time highs in terms of sales per square foot for most major retailers. There is a level of excitement and energy in dealmaking, even with the capital markets becoming more conservative in underwriting—despite today’s strong retail climate. I’m expecting a lot of great energy and activity at RECon.” Hear more from experts in the next few days as we fully cover the RECon event, with thoughts not only from attendees and panelists, but coverage of sessions, parties and more. Also keep a look out for the May issue of Real Estate Forum, where we dive into why we can expect more retail bankruptcies ahead and how today’s greatest and most secure tenant can be only a year away from extinction if they are not proactive, creative and responsive the changes in the marketplace and adapt their business model to court a new style of consumer.