Florida Retail Real Estate Continues it's Upward Climb

AUG 16, 2011 8:33 AM, BY ELAINE MISONZHNIK, RETAIL TRAFFICASSOCIATE EDITOR

Florida’s retail real estate market continues its upward climb, but the progress has been slow and uneven—and will likely remain so until Florida experiences an improvement in its employment outlook.

In June, the most recent month for which figures are available, Florida’s unemployment rate stood at 10.6 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor of Statistics.  The figure represented an 80 basis points decrease from the same period last year, but was still higher than the national rate of 9.2 percent.  Moreover, it means Florida has the fourth highest unemployment rate of any state, trailing only Nevada (12.4 percent), California (11.8 percent) and Rhode Island (10.8 percent).

The health of the state’s labor market is largely dependenton the health of its construction sector, and with a glut of suburban housing and plenty of struggling shopping centers, construction on new residential or commercial projects in Florida is not likely to resume for several years.

Still, national big-box tenants with plenty of cash have contributed to greater leasing momentum in the state over the past year.  Securing small shop tenants, however, remains a challenge—particularly for owners of class-B and class-C centers.

To find out about what’s happening on Florida’s retail scene, Retail Traffic spoke to a number of local experts.  They include PacoDiaz, Miami-based senior vice president with CB Richard Ellis; Mike Milano and J. Benjamin McLeish, Tampa-based managing director and director of retail services respectively with Colliers International; Mitchell Rice, CEO, and Bobby Eggleston, vice president of real estate, with Tampa-based RMC Property Group; John F. Stoner, Tampa-based vice president with the retail group at Grubb & Ellis; and Gregory Masin, Miami-based broker with Cushman & Wakefield.

Click here to view a transcript of the conversation

Source:
Retail Traffic, August 16th, 2011