A CVS and Walgreens

Ever wonder why every other empty retail space seems to be snapped up by a drugstore? It’s because drugstores are the safest tenants, according to a Marcus & Millichap report cited by Retail Traffic magazine.
In fact, Walgreen and CVS both come with investment-grade credit ratings from ratings agencies, making it easier to obtain financing to buy their locations. Combined with the long-term nature of typical drugstore leases (they often start at 20 years with renewal options for as long as 75 years), the rating makes investing in them more like purchasing safe, long-term bonds than many other real estate ventures.
Nationwide, drugstore sales were up 10 percent in the first half of 2011, and the median price for buying a drugstore occupied retail space was $334 per square foot, up 3 percent. [more]

Joseph Cayre and 242 Bedford Avenue

Discount clothing department store Marshalls and drugstore CVS are interested in leasing space in a troubled development site in Williamsburg, once the stalled construction project is completed, several brokers said. The national chain retailers are looking at a lower-level space at 242 Bedford Avenue, just south of North 4th Street, the brokers, who asked to remain anonymous, said. The half-built site is owned by Yehuda Backer’s Williamsburg-based Backer Group, which halted construction several years ago. Instead, the parcel has only steel shells with no current construction evident.
[more]

Wing Biddle

Urstadt Biddle Properties yesterday said it took over management of and acquired a 9.7 percent stake in the Scarsdale, N.Y.-based Midway Shopping Center for $6 mill [more]

Wing Biddle

Urstadt Biddle Properties yesterday said it took over management of and acquired a 9.7 percent stake in the Scarsdale, N.Y.-based Midway Shopping Center for $6 mill [more]

Wing Biddle

Urstadt Biddle Properties yesterday said it took over management of and acquired a 9.7 percent stake in the Scarsdale, N.Y.-based Midway Shopping Center for $6 mill [more]

Even amid a sluggish retail market, single-tenant net lease deals are on the rise nationwide as investors look to take advantage of their relatively inexpensive price points, industry experts say. Because single-tenant leases tend to be long-term and lower risk, lenders, too, are finding these kinds of acquisitions more attractive to finance. The result, thus far, has been a noticeable year-over-year increase in volume for deals of this type during the first quarter of 2010, plus a decline in cap rates for some of the most desirable properties. Granted, single-tenant assets didn’t suffer as much during the downturn to begin with. Total retail sales fell by 80 percent between mid-2007 and mid-2009, whereas sales of net lease properties declined by about half of that, according to Bernard Haddigan of Marcus & Millichap’s national retail group. Now that the market is beginning to recover, brokers say that investors are especially eyeing metro market properties that house drugstores like CVS and Walgreens, dollar stores and national bank branches. [more]

Manhattan retailers are jumping on cheap storefront real estate, according to industry experts, as commercial landlords slash prices to entice renters. Retail vacancy in the borough hovered above 10 percent in the third quarter this year, according to Crain’s, and small and large retailers are seizing their newly found leverage in the market to upgrade to larger and nicer spots. CVS, for example snagged a 1,200-square-foot spot at 1241 Lexington Avenue, next to an existing location, after the deli that had been there shut down. The expansion at 84th Street marked a 20 percent growth in space. Jason Pruger, a senior managing director at Newmark Knight Frank Retail, said this is a classic example of how stronger retailers are behaving in the market. “The opportunities came, and CVS took them,” Pruger said. “Landlords are eager to capitalize on giving as much space as they can to top tenants.”

Fifth Avenue

From the October issue: Fifth Avenue in the 40s is in retail flux. Nearly a dozen spaces on the
10-block stretch are vacant or on the market, including the former
Circuit City store and the former indoor mall at 575 Fifth Avenue and
47th Street. Meanwhile, new tenants like LittleMissMatched, the upscale
children’s apparel store, have recently entered the area. The strip includes the gateway to the Diamond District, along with the
eastern edge of Rockefeller Center, and is dotted with camera and
souvenir shops, as well as low-end food merchants. It has long been the
dowdy stepsister to Fifth Avenue in the 50s, which is lined with tony
tenants such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Tiffany and Bergdorf Goodman. But in recent years, the stretch started attracting higher-end retail
tenants, such as American Girl Place, Build-A-Bear and Aldo, the shoe
store. In fact, many expected it to keep getting fancier. [more]