Anthony Blanco Joins the Shopping Center Group

MIAMI—Retail commercial real estate guru Anthony Blanco has switched allegiances, leaving his position as co-managing partner of Plaza Advisors to step into a role as director of Investment Sales at the Shopping Center Group.

Blanco tells GlobeSt.com that the Shopping Center Group is the ideal company for his investment team, which includes senior associate Lenard Williams and analyst Mallory Ham. In his new position, Blanco will work in a wider geographic footprint with a third-party leasing and management platform focused on retail real estate only.

“I believe now is a great time for this affiliation since the emphasis is clearly back on understanding the basic driving factors behind retail real estate as opposed to the financial engineering that was prevalent in the mid-2000s,” Blanco says. He has been brokering retail property sales for nearly 15 years and has sold about $800 million worth of retail real estate assets, including the sale of two high profile Publix-anchored shopping centers in Miami in 2010—the West Bird Plaza and Country Walk Plaza.

“I expect to see improvements in the retail investment sales arena 2012,” Blanco says. “Interest rates continue to be very attractive, and the conduit debt market is steadily returning for retail properties, albeit in a slightly different form than before.”

Blanco reports significant interest in retail investment properties from institutional investors with a strong appetite for the highest quality properties in major markets. The gap between institutional grade properties and all other properties needs to close so that B and C assets can be priced with some certainty, he says, increasing their likelihood of selling.

“Many retail properties face loan maturities in the not too distant future and many are also still struggling to fill space,” Blanco says. “However, the recessionary environment did not impact quality assets in general, though it clearly highlighted problems with other properties. Additionally, many retail tenants are attempting or planning to downsize their stores, requiring less real estate. This will impact occupancy levels.”