BILL ROSE: It's been 28 quarters of GDP growth in the US, and investors might be concerned that perhaps things will stall out. Even though sales were not what we had hoped for at Christmas time, wage and job growth has occurred and the metrics are very favorable. That has a big impact on why we are seeing a number of retailers expanding. Those that are contracting need to re-evaluate their merchandise, delivery and physical in-store experience.

STUART TANZ: Job growth in major West Coast markets has consistently been outpacing the national average and is expected to continue. Given the outlook, retail space demand on the West Coast continues to be strong, particularly for grocery-anchored shopping centers, with no signs of slowing.

AYGOREN: Are you still upbeat in terms of the consumer's ability to spend and spur the growth of the sector?

ROSE: Earlier, we were worried that the new jobs weren't producing enough wage growth to spur retail sales, hence grow rents, but that is not the case. We see job growth in all major markets in the US. Some of the tertiary markets still need more improvement to occur for those markets to have a substantial uplift in consumer confidence, wage, and jobs.

AYGOREN: For all of you that are investing and developing, are there any markets outperforming others?

ADAM IFSHIN: The story has really been about the outperformance of certain tenant types versus others. Right now, at least in bricks and mortar, everybody who's seeing sales increases are people who are providing meaningful value propositions to their customers. We're seeing a willingness on the part of those tenants to do business all over the block, whether it's primary, secondary or tertiary markets.

JOHN McNELLIS: I work primarily in Silicon Valley and the greater San Francisco Bay Area. We're in one of the best retail locations in the country, and we're signing leases today that are absolutely flat compared to 20 years ago. I'm not talking about inflation-adjusted flat. I'm talking flat-flat. As far as development goes, food is still good, supermarkets and fast food, quick-serve restaurants, but we're not seeing much demand for anything else.

TOM McGUINNESS: Over the past two years, we have transformed our portfolio to match the ever-changing demographics in this country. We are seeing a true shift in population and jobs in the past decade and we want to be where the jobs are. Designing a unique open-air retail platform, comprised of grocery-anchored community centers and necessity-based power centers in markets with high job and income growth such as Dallas, Atlanta, Raleigh, Austin, Southern California and Florida is going to provide long-term growth and value for our stockholders.

AYGOREN: What about the effect of e-commerce on the retail landscape?

TANZ: Within the grocery-anchored sector…

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It's a brilliant time to buy retail because the constant pronouncements of retail doom in the media means that a lot of money has left the investment class, making it a wonderful time for smart entrepreneurial money to move back in and pick off some great assets.”

That was the consensus among those who participated in Real Estate Forum's latest Annual Retail Power Panel. Brought to you in conjunction with the upcoming ICSC RECon show and Real Estate Media Thought Leader Marcus & Millichap's annual Retail Trends event at the conference, the roundtable discussion brought together experts from across the retail real estate spectrum to talk about the state of the business and where is it headed.

SULE AYGOREN: The retail sector has certainly been evolving in response to a number of dynamics. How do you see the US economy performing on a macro level?

BILL ROSE: It's been 28 quarters of GDP growth in the US, and investors might be concerned that perhaps things will stall out. Even though sales were not what we had hoped for at Christmas time, wage and job growth has occurred and the metrics are very favorable. That has a big impact on why we are seeing a number of retailers expanding. Those that are contracting need to re-evaluate their merchandise, delivery and physical in-store experience.

STUART TANZ: Job growth in major West Coast markets has consistently been outpacing the national average and is expected to continue. Given the outlook, retail space demand on the West Coast continues to be strong, particularly for grocery-anchored shopping centers, with no signs of slowing.

AYGOREN: Are you still upbeat in terms of the consumer's ability to spend and spur the growth of the sector?

ROSE: Earlier, we were worried that the new jobs weren't producing enough wage growth to spur retail sales, hence grow rents, but that is not the case. We see job growth in all major markets in the US. Some of the tertiary markets still need more improvement to occur for those markets to have a substantial uplift in consumer confidence, wage, and jobs.

AYGOREN: For all of you that are investing and developing, are there any markets outperforming others?

ADAM IFSHIN: The story has really been about the outperformance of certain tenant types versus others. Right now, at least in bricks and mortar, everybody who's seeing sales increases are people who are providing meaningful value propositions to their customers. We're seeing a willingness on the part of those tenants to do business all over the block, whether it's primary, secondary or tertiary markets.

JOHN McNELLIS: I work primarily in Silicon Valley and the greater San Francisco Bay Area. We're in one of the best retail locations in the country, and we're signing leases today that are absolutely flat compared to 20 years ago. I'm not talking about inflation-adjusted flat. I'm talking flat-flat. As far as development goes, food is still good, supermarkets and fast food, quick-serve restaurants, but we're not seeing much demand for anything else.

TOM McGUINNESS: Over the past two years, we have transformed our portfolio to match the ever-changing demographics in this country. We are seeing a true shift in population and jobs in the past decade and we want to be where the jobs are. Designing a unique open-air retail platform, comprised of grocery-anchored community centers and necessity-based power centers in markets with high job and income growth such as Dallas, Atlanta, Raleigh, Austin, Southern California and Florida is going to provide long-term growth and value for our stockholders.

AYGOREN: What about the effect of e-commerce on the retail landscape?

TANZ: Within the grocery-anchored sector…

Click here to continue reading in the digital edition.