On December 7th and 8th over 6,000 shopping center industry professionals converged upon New York City for the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) 2009 New York National Conference and Deal Making event. The ICSC holds this two-day national conference annually, for which professionals travel from all over the country to participate in. In attendance this year, from NAI Norwood Group’s Portsmouth New Hampshire office, was Managing Broker Brian O’Brien and I.
The two day conference was comprised of several different important events and sessions. I found that the most notable event of the conference was Deal Making where over 400 exhibitors occupied nearly all of the Hilton Hotel’s exhibition halls and the Sheraton Hotel’s Metropolitan Ballroom. It was in those exhibition halls that retailers, developers, real estate brokers, engineers, and other industry professionals congregated. A 35,000 SF retailer looking to expand into the Northeast, Ultimate Electronics, could be seen showing interested developers and brokers their expansion plans for 2010 and their site requirements. Developers and brokers could be seen showing retailers their newest development projects and available retail space. I noticed that there was a lot of energy in the air on the deal making floor this year with renewed excitement and enthusiasm for 2010. When attendees weren’t busy finding their way through Deal Making they had other high profile events they could attend such as the Retail Runway.
It has become a common place for the volunteer Program Planning Committees to organize an event called Retail Runway where popular national retailers are given the opportunity to showcase their business and expansion plans for the upcoming year. This year, participating retailers included Auto Zone, Dollar Tree, Game Stop, Hobby Lobby, Planet Fitness, Halloween Venture, Kiddie Academy, Muscle Maker Grill, REI Sporting Goods, Rosa Mexicano Restaurants, ShopRite, Sonic, and Wingstop Restaurants. The ICSC Planning Committee placed a unique twist on the event this year by also showcasing a one minute clip of each of the above mentioned retailers “favorite fans” prior to the retailer’s presentation. The “favorite fan clips” were a huge success as most of them had all of us roaring in laughter.
Planet Fitness, a National Franchise of Fitness Clubs whose headquarters is in Portsmouth NH, was well represented by the Director of Real Estate, Brian Kunkel. Kunkel explained how Planet Fitness got started in New Hampshire and quickly grew to a chain of over 300 stores in 33 U.S. States. Planet Fitness is currently in expansion mode with plans to open 85 to 100 locations nationwide in 2010. Kunkel discussed Planet Fitness’s real estate requirements which include 15,000 to 25,000 SF, 100+ parking spaces, and 14’ ceiling heights in suburban locations. He also explained that Planet Fitness requires 15,000 to 25,000 SF which can be on multiple levels, with 9’ ceilings in urban locations. By being a customer of Planet Fitness and also living in Portsmouth NH, I was able to relate to the real estate requirements of the company and why they have been so successful with their business model.
Overall, the event was well attended and there seemed to be a greater amount of activity in comparison to the New York National Conference and Deal Making event that took place in 2008. This was my second time attending the New York Conference and my sixth ICSC National or Regional Conference. NAI Norwood Group is typically represented at the Boston ICSC Regional Conference, the New York ICSC National Conference, and the Las Vegas National Conference. I continue to experience the benefits of being a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers and volunteering on committees such as the New Hampshire Next Generation Event committee. Thanks to everyone who helped make the 2009 New York Conference as success. See you next year!
Commercial Sales and Leasing
NAI Norwood Group
