CREJ

Page 2 — Retail Properties Quarterly — November 2020 www.crej.com Contents Letter from the Editor T here’s a lot happening in the retail world as we settle into the fourth quarter. Retailers are hoping for a busy holiday season to bolster sales, which have been through the ringer as we enter the ninth month of the pan- demic. Meanwhile, restauranteurs are searching for innovation again to maintain larger seating areas as cold weather moves in and disrupts expanded outdoor seating areas. All of this is happening as COVID-19 cases are on the rise and many fear more restrictions could be around the corner. Yet, in spite of all of this, Coloradans continue to shop and eat out, and, as our cover story reports, retail sales are rebounding. I came across a survey conducted by RetailSphere that asked shopping center managers across the country which retailers were the most difficult to deal with during the pandemic as well as which were their best tenants. The leaders were pretty obvious – 28% of respondents cited restaurants as the most difficult and 22% said gro- cery chains were their best, followed by specialty retailers and big-box retailers (both accounting for 15% of the “best COVID-19 tenants”). The pandemic certainly has strained the tenant-landlord relation- ship and several articles in this issue are devoted to helping navigate this at-times tumultuous relationship. On Page 6, legal questions that first came up in March are examined in order to help landlords prepare for whatever winter may bring. There’s also leasing articles, including one on Page 14, that identifies how a lack of communica- tion is a major hurdle for many. But there are bright spots in the landlord- tenant universe. Articles covering two downtown areas, Five Points and Larimer Square, are examples of how holistic community approaches can help retail districts thrive. While many shopping center are being resourceful and giving us reasons to have optimism about the future of retail, it also must be acknowledged that vacancies and bankruptcy filings are up.Which means many landlords are facing empty – or soon-to-be empty – assets that they’ll need to fill. When the RetailSphere survey asked managers how the pandemic will change shopping center tenancy in the future, every single respondent said grocery would be one of their target tenants. Fast-food tenants and pharmacies rounded out the top- three desirable future tenants.While grocery-anchored centers have been a highly attractive asset class well before the pandemic, it will be inter- esting to see what comes of some of the other prepandemic sought-after tenants. On Page 10, the argument is made that centers that can create shared experiences, which were very popular pre-social-distancing require- ments, still will be a staple for many years to come. Michelle Z. Askeland maskeland@crej.com 303-623-1148, Ext. 104 Reconfiguring tenancy Landlords, tenants adapt as we await a vaccine Ryan Bowlby and Drew Isaac A landlord primer for a potential second wave Tal Diamant, Elizabeth Bhappu Kudla and Blake Hansen Retrofitting retail users in a post-COVID-19 world David C. Camp and Erin L. Leonard Missed connections: Interactions still matter Danaria McCoy Fostering retail openings in spite of the pandemic Kyle Mason What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate Cory Dulberg Larimer Square sets the table: A new template Jackson Coon Five Points embraces community-driven concepts Ryan Cobbins 4 6 8 10 11 14 15 16 Articles highlight how retailers and restaurateurs are evolving in order to survive a year of pandemic-related challenges.