The Weitzman Group delivered its 20th Annual Shopping Center Survey and Forecast yesterday, and, as expected, the news was grim for developers and retailers: Last year saw a steep decline in construction starts and occupancy rates, and 2010 looks to be no better at all -- unless, oh, you're a grocery-store chain, in which case, it's up, up and away. (I'm still trying to figure out how Wick missed Aldi's long-ago-announced move into Dallas-Fort Worth -- coming-soon signs like the one above are all over town, and there's a job fair every other day.)
GlobeSt.com also spoke to EDGE Realty's Brian Murphy, ex-veep at Staubach Retail, who says that "the really big projects, the speculative projects, have been put off a ways." But Frank Bullock at SRS Real Estate Partners is more hopeful: Even if people aren't building, he says, they may be looking to buy. As in:
"The wait-and-see period has been wait-and-seen," adds Bullock in an interview unrelated to the Weitzman presentation. "Capital doesn't like to sit around and make 2% in the bank, it wants to go to work. People are ready for that, barring some kind of political meltdown."
