NEW YORK CITY—As part of our ongoing series profiling up-and-comers across the commercial real estate industry, Real Estate Forum has selected a group of standout young professionals in the retail field. Of those, a handful shine especially bright and have therefore been chosen for a closer look on GlobeSt.com. Get to know these Emerging Retail Leaders, and check out the entire roster here.

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BRIAN T. FINNEGAN, 34

Executive Vice President, Leasing

Brixmor Property Group

New York City

Brian Finnegan was appointed to executive vice president of leasing for Brixmor Property Group in November 2014, further establishing himself as one of the commercial real estate and shopping center industry's brightest young professionals. At just 34, Finnegan is responsible for overseeing the leasing activities of Brixmor's expansive 87 million square feet, 521-property portfolio, the largest wholly-owned grocery-anchored portfolio in the US. Brixmor is one of the largest publicly traded REITs focused on the shopping center sector, with a market cap of more than $7 billion, and Finnegan works closely with Brixmor's senior management team to execute its growth strategy and participates on quarterly earnings calls with research analysts and investors. Prior to this promotion, Finnegan quickly rose through the ranks during his 10 year tenure with Brixmor, holding a number of leadership positions. At 25 he was functioning as a regional vice president and assumed the role of senior vice president at 28, where he was tasked with managing Brixmor's Western portfolio including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas.

As executive vice president of leasing, Finnegan has strategic and day-to-day responsibility for all leasing efforts, and also oversees marketing efforts. Brian manages a team of 75 people across three regional and 12 leasing offices and is instrumental in supporting Brixmor's national and regional leasing strategies and its Raising the Bar program, which involves upgrading its shopping centers' merchandising mix with strong, best-in-class anchors to drive higher sales, traffic and small shop leasing.

”New shopping center development remains at historic lows, creating demand for quality retail space and setting the stage for increased occupancy and robust rent growth,” says Finnegan. “Retail owners with attractive expiry schedules and a reservoir of below-market leases, such as Brixmor, have a compelling long-term opportunity to improve rent levels through mark-to-market increases on expiring leases. Additionally, retail owners with redevelopment capabilities need to get smart and creative with the retail space in their portfolios. Retail is a very dynamic industry and is always changing, so it's essential that retail owners keep up with retailer trends and be able to meet space needs as retailers ramp up or slow down expansion plans or experiment with smaller or larger prototype stores. Over the past decade, Brixmor has solidified its role as a leader in anchor repositioning and redevelopment, helping retail partners quickly expand their footprints, evolve their concepts and drive foot traffic to their stores. Lastly, retail owners that are primarily grocery-anchored, such as Brixmor which is 71% grocery anchored, will continue to benefit from resilient customer traffic due to the necessity-based nature of the grocery business, as well as resistance against ecommerce.”

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Get to Know...Brian Finnegan

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