On December 3rd, ULI hosted experts in retail real estate to discuss their perspective on an industry that has been greatly challenged by Covid-19. 

Event speakers were:

• Camille Renshaw, Founder + CEO, B + E
• Greg Lenners, Senior General Manager, The Shops at Wiregrass | CBRE Retail Property Management
• Stephanie C. Lieb, Shareholder, Trenam Law
• Nichole Popovics, VP of Leasing, Sembler
• Larry Scollo, General Manager, Washington Prime Group/Westshore Plaza

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Margie Manning from the St. Pete Catalyst covered the story, published December 5th:

Covid-19 pandemic could change the face of Sembler’s shopping centers

Retail shopping centers are transforming in the wake of Covid-19.

Medical storefronts are likely to become more prominent and new leases for restaurants will include dedicated parking spots for customers picking up their food for takeout, said Nichole Popovics, vice president of leasing for The Sembler Co., a St. Petersburg-based development firm.

Popovics was among the commercial real estate professionals sharing insights on how the pandemic is reshaping retail properties in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area, during a program presented by the Urban Land Institute-Tampa Bay.

Covid-19 has been devastating for retailers deemed “nonessential” and forced to shut down or limit operations in efforts to slow the spread of the disease. Nearly 30 national retailers have filed for bankruptcy.

Stephanie Lieb, a shareholder at Trenam Law in Tampa who primarily represents creditors and landlords in commercial bankruptcy cases, said during the panel discussion that she hasn’t been this busy since the economic crash of 2008. She has been working on cases involving GNC, Pier One Imports, Stein Mart and Tuesday Morning, among others.

However, grocery stores, which are considered essential, are thriving, including Publix Super Markets, which reported a nearly 60 percent increase in net earnings in the third quarter of 2020.

Publix and other grocers are the anchors at most of Sembler’s shopping centers, with other tenants occupying the rest of the space.

“We did deal with a lot of rent relief, but in the second and third quarters, while everything was shut down, we had our best leasing quarters,” Popovics said. “From a collections perspective, April and May were the lowest, but we’re back. People are paying their deferments.”

Read more here.