Ep. 142 Beth Azor: 5 Creative Strategies for Filling Retail Centers

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We’ve all heard talk and seen the headlines that the retail apocalypse is upon us. Listening to the news, it sounds like brick-and-mortar retail centers are going the way of the dinosaurs. However, that’s really not the case. While retail is definitely in the midst of significant change, it’s certainly not on the verge of collapse. As our guest this episode says:

“Retail isn’t dead, bad retail is dead”

filling retail centersBeth Azor is a commercial real estate broker and owner of Azor Advisory Services. She’s also a seasoned real estate investor focusing on retail properties. Joining Terra Nova in 1986, Beth got her start in real estate assisting with commercial leasing. She handled mainly office leasing but was also involved with retail leasing, which is where her love for that asset class formed. Eventually, she worked her way up to President at Terra Nova, but left to spend time with her family and to focus on her own real estate investing goals.

She now owns five retail centers and an office building that she plans to convert to retail. Beth doesn’t worry too much about the doom-and-gloom talk concerning retail investing, despite the worries of some, Beth sees a sunny future for retail. She has developed creative strategies for both finding and filling retail centers that offer strong returns.

5 Creative Strategies for Filling Retail Centers

  • Feet-on-the-street canvasing and property searches

    • Make physical visits to properties; open a dialogue with retail owners
  • The power of social media
    • “Networking on steroids”
  • Dedicated involvement with local Chamber of Commerce
    • Build trust among chamber members
  • Visiting corporate offices
    • In-person visits can go a lot further than a phone call
  • Small group broker networking
    • Connect with small groups of brokers; find similar interests

Connect with Beth

Ep. 141 Brian Bailey: A Federal Reserve Commercial Real Estate Expert’s Outlook on Florida

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As part of the Federal Reserve’s wide scope of responsibility and oversight, the eight regional branches are tasked with monitoring residential and commercial real estate markets; tracking trends and data in order to more accurately adjust to market fluctuations affecting the economy. These studies provide hard data for the Fed to make economic adjustments, but they can also be a great gauge for real estate investors. Any successful investor will tell you that the ability to forecast changes in the real estate cycle is vital. As much as knowing your market and asset class, an awareness of other economic factors is important for mitigating investment risk.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta serves as the central bank’s regional authority for the southeast. It tracks real estate markets for the region, including Florida and offers comparisons on a national scale. Our guest this week is a commercial real estate expert with the Fed’s Atlanta branch.

Florida commercial real estate outlookBrian Bailey is a Senior Technical Expert in the Supervision and Regulation Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Specializing in commercial real estate, Brian tracks and analyzes emerging trends in the southeastern region and provides thought leadership on commercial real estate and guidance for the central bank.

Brian brings a diverse background in commercial real estate finance and acquisitions to the Fed. He has over 15 years of experience in commercial real estate finance, having managed financing for millions of square feet in real estate holdings for several large-scale equity and development firms. Brian received an MBA with concentrations in Real Estate and Finance from the University of Florida and has earned a CCIM designation.

You won’t want to miss this commercial real estate outlook on Florida!