Franklin Street’s Carrie Smith, Senior Vice President of Retail Services, and Len Erickson, Senior Director of Retail Services, were recently interviewed by Shopping Center Business on the state of the Florida retail market. Below are excerpts from their interview:
Florida’s top markets are seeing robust demand for retail space, prompting new development despite macroeconomic headwinds.
“We are at the highest rents I’ve ever seen in my career. And the demand from tenants is still insatiable. So clearly retailers are seeing an uptick in their revenue and their sales, otherwise we wouldn’t be doing deals with the rents that we’re currently seeing. There is not enough product being built right now to service the amount of demand that we’re seeing on the retail side. It’s the story of Florida right now.”
— Carrie Smith, Senior Vice President of Retail Services
“Kitchens are becoming larger to accommodate third-party delivery, as well as in-store pickup. Restaurants are also adding interior or second lines to accommodate additional business. And I’ve heard clients say that they’ve has as much as 25 percent growth for their top line just with the pick-up and third-party delivery business, which predominantly occurred during COVID-19. But it’s here to stay, consumer behavior has changed.”
— Len Erickson, Senior Director of Retail Services
