Current media coverage and upcoming developments hand-picked from the industry.

How the city of Miami Beach is attracting pop-ups

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Commerce+Communities Today – AUGUST 4, 2021 BY BEN JOHNSON Miami Beach’s Lincoln Road shopping and dining district needed a jolt, and not just from the pandemic. The nearby Miami Beach Convention Center reopened in 2018 after three years of redevelopment, and local retailers were feeling the disruption. “We went to the city and urged them to have a streamlined licensing process so we could get short-term tenants open to keep those stores full,” said Stephen Bittel, founder and chairman of Terranova, which has a long history as an owner of retail properties in the Lincoln Road area.

As a result, the city launched a program in September to expedite 90-day special event permits for pop-up retailers. Now, that program is filling empty space and generating buzz. “We were working on the program pre-pandemic, and the pandemic just made everything come together in a very sudden way that made it even more opportune,” Bittel said.

Successful results

In late July, online lifestyle sneaker brand Air Kiy hosted its second pop-up in the district in the past six months, at 1655 Meridian Ave. For the first pop-up there, fans had lined up along the pedestrian promenade, and limited-release sneakers sold out within hours.

Other pop-ups in the district have become fixtures. Sol + Sorbet arrived last fall for a three-month pop-up and recently relocated to an expanded space at 821 Lincoln Road under a more traditional lease. Plant Daddy, a popular plant concept that grew a large online following, also signed a three-month pop-up last October, at 808 Lincoln Lane North. It renewed for six months and soon will expand into the space next door.

“We think these retailers are coming because they want to take advantage of this tremendous volume of pedestrian traffic, coupled with Lincoln Road as an open-air shopping destination so people in a pandemic world feel safer shopping outside,” said Bittel.

Pop-up spaces in the area range from 300 square feet to as much as 4,000 square feet. The latter was taken by Shein, an online retailer with a cult-like following. It has opened only a handful of in-store pop-ups across the country but set up a three-day location at 744 Lincoln Road during the annual Miami Swim Week fashion event. Reservations for the event sold out online in 48 hours.

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Six Reasons Mentorship Will Change You for the Better

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Thrive Global – JULY 28, 2021 BY STEPHEN BITTEL I still remember vividly the day in August of 1974 that I stepped off a shuttle van in the small town of Brunswick, Maine where I would be attending Bowdoin College. Having attended public school for my entire education prior to being accepted to the small private college (which I still maintain was probably a far reach beyond my academic record at that point, but good outside activities and SAT scores got me through the admissions gauntlet), I was woefully unprepared for the academic rigor that lay ahead. However, Bowdoin College is staunch in its commitment to the common good, as Bowdoin President Joseph McKeen charged it to be in his inaugural address.

“It ought always to be remembered, that literary institutions are founded and endowed for the common good, and not for the private advantage of those who resort to them for education. It is not that they may be enabled to pass through life in an easy or reputable manner, but that their mental powers may be cultivated and improved for the benefit of society.”

From the very beginning of my time at the college, I became aware that this was a charge every single student, professor, and faculty member held themselves accountable to. My very first night as I was unpacking, Stan Druckenmiller, today a legendary investor, visited me in my room and strongly urged to take a course in Southern literature taught by Franklin Burroughs. My freshman economics course taught by Myrick Freeman hooked me on business for a lifetime –– I had always believed that like my father and grandfather before me I would return to Miami and become a lawyer, and while I did end up earning my law degree I never used it, choosing instead to start my own business. Bill Geoghegan’s world religion survey course stretched my mind around the world –– it is thanks to him and President Roger Howell that I applied and was awarded the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, allowing me to spend a year after graduating college travelling Europe and forming the connections that would eventually help build my life and business.

I know that I would not have achieved the success I have today without those more knowledgeable and experienced than me lighting the path. I now try to pay that forward, serving my community by mentoring those who seek to learn from my career and life experiences. While it is easy to see the benefits gained by the mentee, mentoring others is not only richly fulfilling, but also has many practical benefits as well. Below, I outline some of those I have experienced first hand.

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Infrastructure Agreement: CRE Dream or Possible Disappointment?

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GlobeSt.com – JULY 12, 2021 BY ERIK SHERMAN The sound of bipartisanship, such as it is, can be the harbinger of greenback tides. With the infrastructure bill, there’s no guarantee, with the White House pushing hard for backing and Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell at odds, as The Hill reports.

But forget stories of rancor for a moment. There’s still a significant chance that the $1.2 trillion, multi-year bill—which includes previously appropriated money and rolls out over years—will still happen. Spending areas include roads and bridges, public transit, airports, ports and waterways, water systems, broadband, and power and grid upgrades.

What it might mean for CRE isn’t yet clear.

By the “textbook definition,” many would argue there is no CRE category of infrastructure, JLL chief economist Ryan Severino tells GlobeSt.com, which might leave people scratching their heads over where and how exactly to invest.

“But more liberally I think it is fair to think of it that way – it is part of the physical system,” Severino says. “More specifically, I think data centers are now part of the infrastructure. Without them the digital system would struggle.”

Some big CRE players have managed to find places in the sector. “Most of the major pension fund advisors and houses have infrastructure funds,” Stephen Bittel, chairman and founder of full-service commercial real estate advisory firm Terranova, tells GlobeSt.com. “When you get a government grant to expand an airport or rebuild a utility so it’s more efficient, those are all investments one can make either in specific infrastructure funds or directly in the private companies working with the public sector. I think you’ll see pension funds allocating portions of their portfolios to infrastructure for the near and coming future.”

True as that may be, thinking of it as CRE may not make sense, Severino says. “The bill is likely, though no guarantees, to target the more traditional aspects of infrastructure,” he says. If parts were commercialized, like privatization of toll roads, “it might be thought of as part of CRE, but more as alternative hard assets.”

“Some portfolios invest in alternative hard assets,” Severino continues. “It is still relatively small, but it has been growing over time. Some regions of the country are more open to the idea of privately owned infrastructure assets than other regions.”

The benefit to CRE may be more indirect in nature. Better infrastructure could mean better conditions for businesses and, therefore, CRE tenants.

“Commercial real estate houses businesses and businesses need to connect to all of these types of connections to function,” Bittel says.

“Our creaking infrastructure presents a drag to both the economy and the CRE industry,” Severino adds. “Industrial and retail depend on the timely distribution of goods and services to consumer, either directly to their homes or indirectly to stores. Offices benefit from the efficient movement of people from home to work and back again, a dynamic that will take on increased importance during an era with a growing prevalence of work from home. Hotels benefit from business and leisure travels arriving quickly and safely at their destination, via all modes of transportation. Data centers facilitate the storage and movement of information. In short, it proves difficult to overstate the importance of infrastructure to CRE.

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