OAK BROOK, IL—With little new construction happening in retailreal estate, and some tenants that are still vacating space, manylandlords in this commercial real estate sector are looking tobackfill empty stores. The Inland Group of Cos.(RECon booth C1027) is among them and has successfully executedthese leasing deals, specifically in the Chicago area. Joe Cosenza,vice chairman and a director of the Oak Brook, IL-based firm, tellsus about Inland's success in this arena.

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"The term 'backfilling' usually means, inconstruction, digging down to put in the footings for your houseand then building the cement wall on top of it for your basement,all of which becomes your foundation," says Cosenza. "Once that isdone, a backhoe or a front-end loader, comes in and fills in thegap that occurred between the dirt that was moved and the footingsand cement wall that was built."