Deep Dive: Retail repurposing? It's complicated
PERE caught up with Madison Realty Capital Managing Principal and Co-Founder Josh Zegen to get his take on the recent trend of developers repurposing retail real estate. “We’re seeing a lot of these things being sold at land value because they’re basically knockdowns,” said Zegen. “There’s a lot of great land that’s covered today by retail.” Retail repurposing takes up about 5 percent of debt investment firm Madison Realty Capital’s deal pipeline. “It’s a lot more than taking a mall and turning it into industrial,” said Zegen, whose team of experts works hard to present lenders with “perfect pictures” of a site’s future to help them see a project’s value.