Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | May 15, 2023 | Worcester Business Journal 7 Retail space is hard to fill While some restaurants and large retailers like Bed Bath & Beyond and are shuttering, other new businesses and eateries are popping up around the region in an uneven back-and-forth that means restaurant and retail space is not leasing at a premium. More than two-thirds of WBJ readers surveyed online believe the retail space now vacant will not be easily filled. Do you think developers and commercial property owners will be able to fill nearly all the retail space now vacant and under development? F L A S H P O L L To learn more, contact: Peter Staiti SVP, Commercial Lending Center Manager 100 Front Street, Worcester, MA | 508.769.5725 RocklandTrust.com/Worcester Member FDIC A Local Partner, Financing Businesses Across Worcester County Fitness Facility Real Estate Acquisition $4,150,000 Littleton, MA Recreational Facility Equipment & Working Capital $700,000 Worcester, MA Manufacturing Facility Equipment Purchase $250,000 Worcester, MA Restaurant Equipment & Working Capital $250,000 Whitinsville, MA Multi-Family Investment Real Estate Portfolio Refinance $1,800,000 Worcester, MA Residential Real Estate Construction 228 units $57,000,000 Worcester, MA Industrial Real Estate Construction 135,000 sq. ft. $13,545,000 Worcester, MA Retail Liquor Store Real Estate Refinance $350,000 Millbury, MA No 71% Yes 29% COMMENTS: "We should retrofit dead office space into workforce housing for our young, lower drinking age to 18, and bring the cities back alive again. Putting young people, 18 for example, with their peers and elders will help them with their struggles and create much needed housing for them. Win-win." "Commercial property owners are beginning to follow an unhealthy trend of increasing retail space rent amounts, and they're not going to get them filled as fast as they wish." sive, and a lack of available space going forward. Even if retailers to fill large spaces prove difficult to find, the owners of plazas can find creative solutiond from sub-dividing space to finding non-tra- ditional users, said Todd Alexander, executive vice president, specializing in retail at Kelleher & Sadowsky. Alexander mentioned the rise in pop- ularity of trampoline parks and other in- door recreation. He and Starr mentioned the rise in popularity of pickleball. ough an indoor pickleball facility has yet to move into a retail space in Central Mass., an 80,000-square-foot facility housing 28 indoor pickleball courts is slated to open in June in Stam- ford, Conn. In Leominster, Mark and Christine Emma, opened a Launch Entertainment franchise in a former Toys "R" Us store at e Mall at Whitney Field. e facility features trampolines, bowling, a rock climbing wall, and an arcade. Reusing retail properties doesn't have to be all fun and games. In Worcester, the Registry of Motor Vehicles opened a location in a former Big Y supermarket at 50 Southwest Cutoff in August. In March, a New Hampshire company proposed to convert a vacant retail space in Fitchburg into 80,000 square feet of self-storage. e proposal includes three small storefronts. Larger retailers who have relied in the past on expansive indoor mall anchor spaces may soon be a bigger part of the outdoor shopping plaza scene. Macy's and its subsidiary Bloomingdale's have been opening 20,000-40,000-square-foot locations in outdoor plazas. Bloomie's and Market by Macy's are smaller versions of the retail giants. Macy's told CoStar aer having success with locations it had opened al- ready it expects to accelerate the rollout of these new stores in 2024. Christmas Tree Shops of Middle- borough, which has locations in Shrewsbury and Framingham, is declaring bank- ruptcy as well. e retailer plans on closing 10 of its stores while it restructures. Time will tell if CTS and its once parent company Bed Bath & Beyond's bankruptcy are part of a larger trend or just two companies that failed to adapt to changing conditions. With a wide range of potential uses, and economic uncertainty on the hori- zon, it's hard to say what plazas in the future will look like, but brokers seem to feel that they will be filled one way or another. Todd Alexander, executive vice president at Kelleher & Sadowsky Associates W

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