A growing trend with the demise of retail attempting to compete with Amazon (and now Wal Mart) online is the “traditional” regional shopping center. Sears, J C Penny, Barnes & Noble are just a few names to pop up. Where is the value of the commercial real estate? The answer is that the value is always where it has been – in the land.
Repurposing of the land by adding residential and office uses, taking advantage of the strategic location of these massive projects next to freeway interchanges and mass transit makes these sites natural multi-family sites. These are now sites for living and working as well as shopping and playing by the development of open areas for outdoor recreation, theatres, and indoor meeting rooms. Seattle’s Northgate Mall was developed in the 1950’s as an outdoor mall featuring open walkways between shops and buildings and it was an adventure to go there. It evolved into an indoor mall and finally, with the advent of mass transit, it’s a mere 4-5 minutes from the downtown Seattle Central Business District.
The lesson for the clients of Seattle Commercial Real Estate LLC is the value of a good location. The use may come or go, but the value of a great location can never be replicated.
