LAS VEGAS—There is a lag effect with sellers at the moment where sites are priced to be at a level where construction and the associated required rents aren't working. That is according to Daniel Ortega, principal at Edge Realty Partners. Ortega tells GlobeSt.com that this lag effect is particularly acute in hot markets such as Florida, Texas and Arizona, which will have to capitulate to make the numbers work. "Sooner or later, the market will stabilize," he says.

We chatted further with Ortega on the retail market in advance of this weekend's ICSC Las Vegas event, where another trend he is expecting to watch for the remainder of 2024 is "NAR Drama" as he puts it. "Residential real estate will dictate in a minor way how commercial real estate works," he says. "At Edge we send commission agreements with the initial offer so that Landlords and developers see the total costs up front. The faster our counterparts can see the costs involved in dealing with a national credit tenant, the faster we can come up with an agreement.  Never wait to share the costs to the Landlord until the LOI is signed.  Always help the Landlord count the costs early," he says.

We also chatted  with ICSC attendee Sandy Sigal, NewMark Merrill president and CEO, on trends he is noticing and he says that he is seeing tenants changing their prototypes and looking for different ways to achieve their store goals, technology not just as a supportive factor but as a main strategy and differentiator, and ways to change how we build to reduce costs and delivery times.