The complete upheaval of the commercial real estate market seemingly happened overnight, but the pandemic followed years of structural changes, so the recovery could take much longer.
Steve Brown interviews Herb Weitzman, founder of Dallas-based commercial real estate brokerage the Weitzman Group, for an article about the road to recovery for the brick and mortar retail market following the coronavirus pandemic.
One of the key issues as play, is how quickly the pandemic shut down businesses and completely overhauled operations. This downturn is unprecedented, says Weitzman in the article.
The structural changes already underway, suddenly exacerbated by the pandemic, won't be easy to recover from, especially for small businesses, says Weitzman. "When we go back to work it won’t happen quickly — the pandemic won’t stop in a day," he said in the article. "People are going to be afraid and take it very very cautiously."
Weitzman also tells Brown that the Weitzman Group "is working with the more than 3,400 tenants in his company’s shopping centers to keep them in business." The big box stores and grocers that recently invested in digital ordering and store pick-up programs are seeing those investments pay off, according to Weitzman.
FULL STORY: Herb Weitzman warns that a shopping center rebound won’t happen overnight
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