A total of 284 Kmart stores across the US will be liquidated to try to garner up extra cash to pay creditors. A few stores closed in the metropolitan area last week. Other areas where the discount chain will close stores include 30 stores in Texas, and another 20 in Illinois.

"Wal-Mart and Target have both benefited from Kmart's struggles," Leebove says. "It is important to remember that money not spent by consumers at Kmart stores will be spent elsewhere."

Owners of properties with space vacated by Kmart may not directly benefit from the expansion plans of other large discount retailers over the next year, as some prefer to occupy space specifically built to suit their needs, she notes.

"Still, some matches have been reported," Leebove says. "As the economy enters into a recovery over the next year, however, thriving retailers will resume expansion and well-located stores left vacant by Kmart will be met with improving demand."

Leebove says through the year, Wal-Mart and Target stores will remain in demand among real estate investors and strong credit ratings and earnings growth will keeping cap rates hovering around 8%.

"At the top of the earnings spectrum are Wal-Mart and Target, both reporting earnings growth, while Kmart has dropped to the bottom," she says. For in-line tenants at Kmart-anchored centers, the months of going-out-of-business sales and the large vacancy left behind by the retailer will likely bite into sales, Leebove says.

"Many of the stores being vacated are located in older, poorly maintained properties that will require capital improvements prior to re-tenanting, which will come at a relatively high cost to owners," she says.

However, Leebove says by the time liquidation at most Kmart stores reaches completion, the economy will have entered recovery and many of the nation's other retailers will have resumed plans for expansion, picking up well-located stores.