Retail brokers gear up to pitch D.C. area at International Council of Shopping Centers convention - Washington Business Journal:

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At National Harbor, securing nationa l retailers has been a delicate as many are skittishabout expanding. Ann Taylor says it will shutter117 stores, Foot 140, and Talbots, 20. All have dozenss of locations locally. That is the nationak retail market D.C. officials, real estate developerzs and retail leasing agents will face on theidr annual pilgrimage to Las Vegas to wooprospective retailers. The International Council of Shopping Centers convention is scheduled for sin city May The Washington, D.C. Economic Partnership will markeyt234 D.C. sites that represent 6.
5 million square feet of retaill space planned or proposed over the next The ICSC conference comes at a time when consumers are tightening their wallets, and retailers -- especially nationa chains -- are closing, filing for bankruptcy protectio n or pulling back on expansion plans. a New York City-based traded group, estimates that 5,770 stores will close in an increase of 25 percent overlast year, when therer were 4,603 closings nationwide. Home furnishing, home entertainment and apparel inthat order, were hardest hit in 2007.
Even with that grim experts maintain the Washington region is shielded from the stingy of the economic downturn other areas are experiencinhg because of its high incomes and federal But it is by no means impervious. Consider: Linens n' Thingxs filed for Chapter 11 protection this mont and is closing 120stores nationally, including Capital Centerd in Largo, Potomac Mills in Princwe William County and Tysons Cornee in Vienna. Beltsville-based JoAnne's Bed & Back Stores Inc. filed for Chapte 11 bankruptcy protection in April and closed threearea Fairfax, Sterling and Timonium, Md. It may sell its including 13 remaining stores, to The Healthy Back Sharper Image Corp.
filerd for Chapter 11 bankruptcg protection in February and will closwunderperforming stores. Four local stores are among its 184 Georgetown Park Mallin D.C., Tysonz Galleria in McLean, Montgomery Mall in Bethesdaw and Dulles Town Center. "I'j nervous," said Jon Eisen, managing principak for Bethesda-based StreetSense Inc., a retail planne r and broker. "I have had projects shut Retail-only projects are faring better than retailat mixed-usee projects, many of which have been put on The tenant representation side of Eisen'd retail brokerage business has slowed 30 percent, he Still, Eisen and many local retail real estate professionalxs are optimistic, contending that the downturnb is part of a cycle to prepare the market for the next The slow period is too, because it gives retail companies a chance to reassess, streamline and create better portfolios, they say.
"You'rew going to work harder to make deals, but deals are stil l being made," Eisen said. "And there are some cutbacks on the tenant side, but the market is still very bullish." Apparently so, if attendancs at ICSC is any indicator. Organizerse are expecting some 50,000 from arouncd the world to come, which is close to the record participatiolast year. For localo people in the business, Las Vegas is wherwe conversations beginor deepen, wherew past courtship have led to new retailo for the area, such as downtown D.C.'se West Elm store. And for Tysons Corner, it will be busineszs as usual atthe convention.
The region'sx largest mall generally has a long list of retailers waiting for aspot there, said F.K. Grunert, vice presidenft of leasing for Macerich, which owns the Grunert will be actively marketing the Domain Home space and is focusing on 2009 and 2010 to identifyh future prospects forthe 2.17-square-foot "I think people are forward-looking. This slowdownn isn't going to last forever," he "The mall business these days -- even the shoppinhg center business ingeneral -- is prettu futuristic.
" The same is true for developers, who in the currentt market may not be building but are goinyg through the permitting or rezoning procesx for future developments, Eisen At ICSC, the region's relatively healthy retail economty will be a selling point, said Stevr Moore, chief executive of the economic "This is about shoring up confidence in expandinf into the District," he "We have a national reputatiomn right now for doing really well in this economy." The projectw Moore's group and city officials will markef at ICSC include CityCenter D.C.
, the newly namef mixed-use spread at the old convention centetr site; The Yards, near the new stadium in the Southwest waterfront; and the Martij Luther King Jr. Avenue and W Street SE area in Anacostia. They are also trying to secure grocers for the same areain Anacostia, as well as the McMillanj reservoir project, the Penn Branch neighborhoox in Southeast and a project at Third and H streets NE.