Retail Trending into Lifestyle Experience

IRVINE, CA-Retail centers are becoming more of a lifestyle experience than simply a place to shop, William Winn, president and CEO of Fortus Property Group, tells GlobeSt.com. As we reported earlier this week, Winn was recently appointed to his new post and will begin at the end of this month.

“We're trying to create an atmosphere that's enticing to customers,” says Winn. “The enclosed-mall concept is less attractive to customers than open-air projects in good-weather areas.”

Winn says Fortus likes to focus “on the bread-and-butter shopping centers, which is where customers come for their daily needs. These centers are less affected by Internet retailing—they are Internet-insulated shopping experiences.”

Winn sees retail shopping centers as an improving environment for leasing and rent, particularly in states that have population and job growth. “Generally speaking, we're seeking improvement in retail sales driving retailers who have not expanded in recent years to expand. This helps us in our objective. Rents that have been driven down after the recession are coming back again.”

While the firm is primarily West Coast and Hawaii based in terms of portfolio, it is considering expanding to reach other regions of the country, mostly in the Sunbelt states. “We're expanding our operating platform to be able to be effective in terms of dealing with institutional capital and potentially other property types we might acquire aside from retail in the commercial area,” says Winn. “We are evaluating some of the other property types because our asset managers have experience in other property types, so we can acquire, manage and lease other types besides retail.”