Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1540905
wbjournal.com | November 3, 2025 | Worcester Business Journal 17 Real Estate bigger transactions in the retail space recently tends to be focused on plazas anchored by large grocery chains, whose products have not been impact- ed as much by the rise of e-commerce, said Jim Glickman, principal and founder of Worcester real estate firm NAI Glickman Kovago & Jacobs. In February, Brasswater, a real estate development firm based in Quebec, entered the American retail real estate market with the purchase of the Stow Shopping Center for $16 million. e site is anchored by a Shaw's location, with the company telling CoStar News it intended to keep targeting gro- cery-anchored plazas for purchases. In April, e Center at Hobbs Brook in Sturbridge, featuring Walmart and Stop & Shop, sold for $30.6 million to Argonne Capital Group, an Atlan- ta-based private equity firm, as part of a wider $1.1-billion deal. e firm said the deal represented a strong belief in this type of asset class. Smaller plazas with less desirable lo- cations and no big anchor tenants find themselves in more difficult situations, with some being redeveloped into housing or other uses, Glickman said. Coming online in late 2024, the Amazon warehouse and distribution center built at the former site of the once-bustling Greendale Mall is per- haps the most compelling example of the transformation caused by e-com- merce in the retail sector, Glickman said. "at's as poignant as it could be," he said of that site's transformation from a bustling mall, to a building in decline, to a brand new logistics site. "Nobody is going into indoor shopping plazas, and everybody's buying stuff online. So Amazon came in and built a warehouse where there used to be a very valuable interior mall." Similarly, large indoor shopping cen- ters, which have survived longer than Greendale, are still struggling to adapt to modern times. e Solomon Pond Mall in Marlbor- ough has been operated by a receiver since 2021, aer owner Simon Property Group could not reach an agreement with its lender to modify terms, ac- cording to ConnectCRE.com. e mall was appraised for $29.7 million in 2024, down significant- ly from its appraised value of $200 million in 2012, according to Boston Business Journal. e Natick Mall is faring the best of the region's shopping malls, attracting innovative, fun-focused tenants like the Level 99 interactive entertainment venue and Puttshack indoor mini-golf to fill vacant big box spaces. Still, the 1.6-million-square-foot site is struggling to find a path forward, with its owner needing to extend its $505-million loan in the spring aer failing to find a path toward refi- nancing, according to BBJ. Attempts to pivot other mall spaces in Natick and beyond to life science space have been halted by the slowdown in that industry. Other malls are considering major modifications to their sites, with plans being considered at e Mall at Whit- ney Field in Leominster to demolish part of the mall to make way for a Costco Wholesale location, Leominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella told WBJ in June. Tariffs have had less of an impact on consumer spending than some anticipated, but mall and other retail property owners with tenants who are already treading water may be nervously watching this year's holiday shopping season. Retailers are running low on prod- ucts purchased in the pre-tariff mar- ketplace, causing analysts to predict November and December retail sales to grow 1.2%, compared to a growth rate of 4.3% in 2024, according to Boston Consulting Group. Framingham/Natick Marlborough Groton/Townsend Worcester Northborough/Westborough/ Southborough Hopkinton/Holliston Outlying Worcester County Fitchburg/Leominster $16.08 $35.00 $24.98 $24.27 $20.95 $20.70 $20.61 $16.17 Central Mass. retail rent Source: CoStar Source: Massachusetts Department of Revenue, Division of Local Services 0 $50B $100B $150B $200B $250B 0 $5B $10B $15B $20B 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 0 $3B $6B $9B $12B $15B 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 Residential Commercial Industrial Total assessed property values in Central Mass. "Nobody is going into indoor shopping plazas, and everybody's buying stuff online." Jim Glickman, principal of NAI Glickman Kovago & Jacobs W $35.00 Figures are asking rent per square foot