New Net Lease Panel a Big Hit at ICSC Dallas 2014

Dallas, TX – 2014′s Dallas ICSC was truly a unique event, featuring the first true “Net Lease Event” hosted at ICSC. The excitement and energy this churned at the conference was palpable. The attendance was great, with a very nice mix of brokers, institutional buyers, merchant developers, and tenants. One attendee commented “In nearly twenty years of attending conferences, this was definitely one of the most productive. The cross-section of investors, owners & brokers with common interests was impressive.”

In the past, ICSC has been very good at catering to nearly all segments of the shopping center industry. For years, other sectors of the retail real estate industry have warranted their own independent events, such as Open Air Centers and LEED Construction, but this was just another step in the recent maturation of the Net Lease sector. However, the signs were already popping up – American Reality Capital purchased CapLease for $2.2 billion and merged with Cole Real Estate in a transaction worth $11.2 billion – creating the largest Net Lease REIT with an enterprise value of $21.5 billion and the largest REIT merger in two years. Publicly traded net lease companies now combine for $40 billion in market capitalization – a larger presence than the industrial real estate REIT sector and on par with lodging and self-storage. In other words, it’s time to shine for the net lease market.