Sunday, December 28, 2008

Commercial development coming to a halt

The WRA details some of the woes for commercial developers in the greater Waterbury region:

Commercial developers can't secure credit unless they've signed tenants, and retail tenants won't commit to buy or lease a property unless they see adequate demand for their goods or services. With weak sales forecast well into next year, retailers aren't in a rush to open stores.

"I don't represent any developer who would build on speculation and put up lease signs," Theroux said. "Developers don't make commitments without tenants, and tenants don't make commitments without lenders. It's a circle."

Even if credit were available, developers would likely have no reason to pursue new projects. The demand for retail expansion stems from consumer demand for goods and services.

"Shoppers need to return to stores; there has to be an increase in both the ability to purchase essential as well as non-essential goods," said Thomas S. Coe, professor of finance at Quinnipiac University. "Once consumer demand rebounds, there should be a subsequent rebound with retail employment."


In mid-November, the WSJ reported that the Waterbury mall was toying with bankruptcy.

Tim White

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

But in the last 8 years, that process broke down; there was no circle; you had people developing property on speculation,in most cases not risking ANY of their capital. If you think 2008 was bad, wait for 2009.....

Anonymous said...

C'mon, The One is going to tax the beejesus out of those terrible rich people and put another $9 a week in our paychecks if we have a steady job (Maybe $19 if we are married). That's the trick

Anonymous said...

Probably won't be long before W/S goes belly up.

Maybe they named these strip malls Life Style Centers, because they are born, live a short while and then die.