When residential real estate investors target a distressed property, buying it at a bargain price and fixing it up for resale, it’s almost always a windfall for the neighborhood. A rundown ugly house that was a blight on the community is turned into a positive, instantly raising the perceived values of all the homes around it without the neighbors having to lift a finger. It’s a win-win scenario that parallels the approach taken by Kimco Realty, a real estate investment trust (REIT) known for acquiring and turning around neighborhood and community shopping centers.
Kimco owns and operates approximately 946 shopping centers, across 44 states and Puerto Rico, as well as in Canada and Mexico. It’s the largest portfolio of such centers in North America, and it continues to grow as Kimco seeks out new properties. The company specifically looks for existing centers, with a minimum of 75,000 square feet, that have re-development and re-tenanting potential. By restructuring and improving these properties, Kimco is actively helping the surrounding communities, something the company sees as one of its goals. An improved property encourages an improved neighborhood, and an improved neighborhood draws people, feeding back to the original property.
Kimco is currently involved in a number of such projects, including the following:
• Owings Mills Mall (Owings Mills, MD) – This is a 1980s shopping mall that has experienced decreased traffic and occupancy. Kimco is working with General Growth Properties, a developer of premier shopping destinations, to demolish the aging mall and transform the property into a modern lifestyle complex, to be called Owings Mill Town Center. The center will include several big-box stores designed to keep consumer money in the community.
• Wilde Lake Village Center (Columbia, MD) – 40 years ago it was Columbia’s first shopping center, but business has declined, and retailers have begun to shutter their shops. Now Kimco sees an opportunity for the property, by converting it into a mixed-use center, with two high-end residential buildings, all encircling a courtyard to enliven the center’s appearance.
• Suburban Square (Ardmore, PA) – This long-established retail destination was the site of Macy’s first suburban location. Kimco plans to re-energize it, creating an open-air lifestyle center, involving a major courtyard renovation that will make it a backdrop for community festivals.
• West Farms Shopping Center (Farmington, CT) – This 185,000 square foot property is undergoing facade renovations, with upgraded signage, and new brick veneer entrances. Kimco was also able to secure a lease with Nordstrom Rack, representing Nordstrom Rack’s first Connecticut location.
For more information, visit the company website at www.KimcoRealty.com
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