Retail centers struggle - Dayton Business Journal:

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Officials from almost every municipality in the Dayton area are contendingv with the problem of emptg or high vacancyretai centers. In fact, there are 38 retailp centers locally with a vacancy rate above30 percent. Of 16 have a vacancy rate higher than 50 according to the Gem Real Estate Group retailmarke survey. And many experts predict the problem will onlyget Developers, property owners, commercial real estate brokerss and government officials know their individualp battles are part of a much larger, sharef conflict.
Strategic Resource a New York-based consulting firm, expectxs between 2,000 and 3,000 shopping centers and malls across the nationh to close by March and April ofthis year. The group also expectsw 200,000 retail stores to close this on top of theapproximatelyh 160,000 that closed last year. The cause of death for a striop or shoppingcenter varies. It can be the sudden departurer of ananchor tenant, becaus the company has gone bankrupt. It can be the painful death of a strip center that no longere has the traffic flow that feedsthe retailers. It can be causefd by a new center, with more space and better tenantsacross town, pulling dollars away.
If the community’s healthj is wavering, that decline is most evident in its retail Lack of buying power is amajotr problem, as well. Many national retailers requirer an area to contain a certain average househols income before they will locate astore Today, all of these symptoms are exacerbatedc by the economic recession. Emptt store fronts, cracked pavement and fadecd signs make it hard to attract new Withoutnew tenants, property owners aren’t willing to put moneg into renovations. Without renovations, tenants aren’t interestesd in setting up shop.
Finley, planning and development directore for the city of knows the struggle of keeping strip centers Her city has been facing the challenge for yearw along itsretail corridor. The community of 24,000 peoplw is home to two retailp centers with vacancy rates of more than 50 The 150,000-square-foot has more than 90,000 square feet of vacantt space that formerly housed an store. Finley said the spacse is finally being demolishedf after nearly 20 years ofsittintg empty. The city is working with to build 30 senio housing units onthe site. The hope is to turn the centefr into a typeof mixed-use development. But, she a tough fight has gotten tougher with thestrugglinhg economy.
“Retail is something you cannot Finley said. Other communities in the Daytob area know thesame fight. Kris McClintick, development director for Harrison Township, said officials are trying to revitalize its mainstrip , located near North Main Street and Shoup Mill was in its prime during the 1960sx and 1970s. But by the 1990s, the biggert stores, such as , closed their doors. McClintick said the 200,000-square-foort center is about 90 percenf vacant. “The strip center is pretty much dead,” McClinticj said.