November 2020
CONSUMER REAL ESTATE CANADA
The Takeaways & Trends - Cross-Canada Consumer Real Estate Market Conditions Conference Call
FROM MAIN STREET TO THE MAIN MALL AND ANYWHERE THAT RETAIL HAPPENS IN CANADA…KEEPING RETAILERS, FOOD SERVICE SPECIALISTS, E-COMMERCE PROFESSIONALS, RETAIL SPACE BROKERS, BUILDING OWNERS & DEVELOPERS AND INDUSTRY SUPPLIERS CONNECTED!
Hello fellow Canadian consumer real estate professionals, we hope you enjoyed the recent CREC update on Canadian consumer real estate market conditions. Here are the takeaways and trends from our call on Nov. 2, 2020, complied by the call moderator Michael L. Kehoe…
We welcomed a new contributor on the call, Nikki Poole a commercial Broker in St. John’s, Newfoundland with Perennial Management a full service commercial real estate brokerage for an update on the Newfoundland and Labrador market.
Our special guest this week was Craig Patterson the Publisher at the Retail Insider, Canada’s most read on-line industry publication.
Craig advised the call participants:
Nov 16, 2020
CONSUMER REAL ESTATE CANADA
The Takeaways & Trends - Cross-Canada Consumer Real Estate Market Conditions Conference Call
FROM MAIN STREET TO THE MAIN MALL AND ANYWHERE THAT RETAIL HAPPENS IN CANADA…KEEPING RETAILERS, FOOD SERVICE SPECIALISTS, E-COMMERCE PROFESSIONALS, RETAIL SPACE BROKERS, BUILDING OWNERS & DEVELOPERS AND INDUSTRY SUPPLIERS CONNECTED!
Hello fellow Canadian consumer real estate professionals, we hope you enjoyed the recent CREC update on Canadian consumer real estate market conditions. Here are the takeaways and trends from our call on Nov. 16, 2020, complied by the call moderator Michael L. Kehoe…
We welcomed two special guests on the call this week to address the changes we are seeing in leasing practices and lease clauses because of COVID-19.
Peter Morris joined us on the line from Vancouver. Peter is the CEO of the Greenstead Consulting Group Inc,. an international commercial real estate advisory firm that works with landlords, developers, and occupants.
Joining Peter to speak to the subject was lawyer Steve Messinger with Messinger Consulting Services in Toronto. Steve is an icon on the Canadian retail real estate law scene and is a former Senior Partner at Minden Gross LLP. Steve has volunteered with ICSC for over 50 years and it was an honour to have both Steve and Peter on the call.
Peter Morris advised:
Peter went on to advise; “We are still seeing a lot of ‘old ways’ thinking from landlords, their lenders and investors, that doesn’t fit the’ new normal’ business structure. Some landlords are pretending that
COVID-19 is a tenant only issue akin to a tenant distress prior to COVID-19, enacting penalties and using any approach by the tenant as an opportunity to shift more risk to the tenant. While not mentioned on the call, tenants should be very careful on how the recovery wording is drafted if they are expecting a full abatement, otherwise they could face a big bill in Q1 2021 when the reconciliations are done, and there is a true up between the expenses and the amounts paid on account. “
Peter Morris Greenstead Consulting Group Inc.
P - 604-839-4479 E - pdmorris@greensteadcg.com
Steve Messinger advised:
“The business relationship between Landlord and Tenant must change. I am guilty of working on the Landlord side; but the days of the landlord acting as a medieval Lord of the Land and the tenant being little more than a serf when the lease contract is written must end.
I treasure the comment by one of my landlord clients from years ago who said that I was fair in my dealings when representing their (landlord) interests. The one takeaway that I would add is generally speaking if there were ever a time for landlords and tenants to work together for the best interests of all concerned this is the time to park the egos at the door and be realistic and reasonable.
Stephen Messinger - Messinger Consulting Services
P - 416-436-9526 E- messingerconsulting@gmail.com
Further discussion included….
“Dealings with a REIT in the USA over a rent abatement and deferment since April. We finally came to an agreement to MODIFY the rent structure. Their legal department then sent an 11-page agreement that started with the tenant being in default of the lease and went downhill from there.
That was not the intent of our agreement to mutually modify the lease. Here was part of my response to the asset manager: We can agree the pandemic is a completely disruptive and unanticipated factor in all business contracts. We laid out a simple solution to deal with adjusting the business relationship between the landlord and tenant in an atmosphere of mutual agreement. That agreement requires an adjustment to the rent, and the contract.
That agreement is one that provides what the tenant needs now and gives the landlord additional term. Pretty simple. The wording and structure of the document submitted to us by the legal department initially pretends that the pandemic is an exclusive issue of the tenant and ignores that mutual agreement. It places the tenant in default and then allows the landlord to magnanimously grant an accommodation; but with penalties as though the tenant was an unruly toddler getting a time-out.
Then it turns to move all current and future liability for COVID-19 (and a potential host of other issues) onto the shoulders of the tenant. As a lawyer said today relative to adjusting lease contracts in light of COVID-19; “There must be a recognition that ‘old school’ thinking - and ways of dealing with these types of issues - do not align with what is the ‘new normal’. It is a business partnership of mutual benefit, rather than the way business was conducted before”.
“Landlord leasing representatives must be creative…earn your money! The era of the order-taker leasing rep is over.”
Nov 30, 2020
CONSUMER REAL ESTATE CANADA
The Takeaways & Trends - Cross-Canada Consumer Real Estate Market Conditions Conference Call
FROM MAIN STREET TO THE MAIN MALL AND ANYWHERE THAT RETAIL HAPPENS IN CANADA…KEEPING RETAILERS, FOOD SERVICE SPECIALISTS, E-COMMERCE PROFESSIONALS, RETAIL SPACE BROKERS, BUILDING OWNERS & DEVELOPERS AND INDUSTRY SUPPLIERS CONNECTED!
Hello fellow Canadian consumer real estate professionals, we hope you enjoyed the recent CREC update on Canadian consumer real estate market conditions. Here are the takeaways and trends from our call on Nov. 30, 2020, complied by the call moderator Michael L. Kehoe…
We welcomed two special guests on the call to provide insight into the importance of consumer real estate leasing brokers in these challenging times.Also, to look at how performance based and short terms leases impact brokage fees during the pandemic situation and how consumer real estate landlords are reacting.
Call moderator Michael Kehoe framed the discussion; that there is no doubt we are living in interesting and challenging times with history unfolding before our eyes every week. But one thing is constant in our industry and that is: “Nothing happens until you lease something” and if you want credible market info, ask a consumer real estate broker.
The role of the broker is more relevant that ever in these crazy times. Brokers know their markets mall to mall, street to street, block to block and door to door and some of the best in Canada contribute on this call every two weeks. These deal-junkie blood hounds with their noses to the ground day in and day out know the pulse of their respective markets.
Our guests took a dive into the brokerage business and welcomed back to the call, Peter Morris who joined us on the line from Vancouver. Peter is the CEO of the Greenstead Consulting Group, an international commercial real estate advisory firm that works with landlords, developers, and occupants.
Peter Morris Greenstead Consulting Group Inc. E - pdmorris@greensteadcg.com www.GreensteadCG.com
Jay de Nance CHOICE Properties REIT
E - jay.denance@choicereit.ca