Retail slide hits upscale district rents

Ritzy shopping districts like Worth Avenue in Palm Beach now have more storefronts available than any time in the last 15 years, and are seeing rents drop as much as 25 percent. Greg Masin, senior director of retail brokerage services in the Miami office of Cushman & Wakefield, said rents on Worth Avenue, the country’s 12th most expensive retail strip in the nation, are now averaging $123 per square foot, down from $165 per square foot in 2007. Rents on Lincoln Road in Miami, which ranks as the 10th most expensive strip, are flat from last year but up slightly from 2007. [SFBJ]