Experience-driven retail and restaurants have been dominating retail leasing, but owners may be missing an important detail: time. As urban landscapes turn into 24-hour live, work, play environments; retail owners should consider tenants that can activate the shopping center from day to night. Gabe Kadosh, VP at Colliers International, has created an active center at West Hollywood Gateway, and recently brought the center to 100% occupancy by signing restaurant experience Saved by the Max and bar concept The Formosa.

“The center has always been high volume. The Target at one point was the top Target in the country. So, a lot of retailers have wanted to be in the center because of the strong sales and the tenants,” Kadosh tells GlobeSt.com. “In the last few years, we have seen a new wave where we have wanted to do things differently and be more forward thinking. There are a lot of new projects in the area, and we have to look at how we compete with new projects. You have to bring in concepts that are unique and different. One thing that we have also tried to do is look at the hours the center is activated. We want to create an experience that starts in the early daytime and goes through the evening.”

For years, the center has been focused on daytime activity, which was fine because the majority of the surrounding market was offices. Today, the neighborhood is a mix of multifamily and offices, creating more demand for evening retailers. “The evening hours have been a weaker point for the center. I wanted to bring more energy in the evening hours,” says Kadosh. “The Formosa is going to be late night and evening and Saved by the Max is going to be a dinner. We are really looking at the entire day and keeping the center active throughout the day.”

The current leases include a major credit retailers like Starbucks, Target, Ulta, Best Buy BevMo as well as quick service tenants like Mendocino Farms, Baja Fresh and Jersey Mike's Subs. Now, Saved by the Max and The Formosa will fill out the center with morning evening and experience-driven concepts. “The Formosa is going to take some time. It is going to be approximately a year before they open, but the Max is going to open in 60 days,” explains Kadosh. “Now we are going to pick up the evening hours a lot sooner than before.”

The new tenants illustrate the evolution in the retail market. Credit tenants and chains are becoming less important. Kadosh says that the way he analyzes new tenants has also changed. “The first thing that we do is look at the social media page of tenants and their Yelp reviews,” Kadosh tells GlobeSt.com. “We want to know how the retailer is perceived online. It used to be that our first question for a potential tenant was about financials. Now, the first thing I look at is to see what comes up on a Google search. I think that it is important to look at things from a different perspective than the way that it has traditionally been done.”

Instant Insights /

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