Levin Management: "High Level of Energy" at Retail Industry Event
ICSC Conference Marked by Productive Meetings and a More Positive Attitude.
- New York, NY (1888PressRelease) December 13, 2011 - Retail real estate services firm Levin Management Corporation took part in the two-day ICSC 2011 New York National Conference, and firm officials noted a more positive attitude compared to recent years. The event, one of the industry's largest trade gatherings with attendance topping 6,500, was held at the New York Hilton and Sheraton New York and Towers.
"We observed a very high level of energy at this year's event," said Matthew K. Harding, president and COO of Levin Management, who noted that overall activity was up by 25 percent.
"The event produced a lot of very productive meetings for our firm," said Harding. "We found that tenants are still looking for good deals, and at the same time, landlords are being realistic about deal making. As a result, this event is likely to have produced a significant number of transactions."
The deal making activity at the event mirrors the result of a pre-holiday survey conducted in October and November by Levin among tenants of the firm's 12.5 million-square-foot retail portfolio throughout the Northeast.
"At the corporate level, 36% of those surveyed said their companies would be adding stores in 2012, an improvement from the response of a year earlier," said Harding. "We believe that improvement was manifested in the overall level of activity we saw at the ICSC event.
"Our recent survey also demonstrated that the general attitude among retailers is more positive now, with more than three-quarters predicting that their holiday season sales would equal or surpass the previous holiday season," he said.
The ICSC Conference did focus on some key challenges still facing the retail industry. Among them: The ongoing battle over tax-free Internet sales and the resulting disadvantage faced by on-site retail stores; and the ongoing difficulty of obtaining financing in certain locales.
"Overall, we were impressed by the change in attitude and level of activity at this event," said Harding. "It was encouraging."
Levin Management Corporation, headquartered in North Plainfield, N.J., offers property management, leasing and many other services to clients throughout the northeastern United States. One of the nation's oldest and largest companies of its kind, Levin is recognized for repositioning, retenanting and renovating retail properties - services that have become particularly vital for today's institutional, fiduciary and individual retail property owners.
Levin was named "Firm of the Year" by the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM), New Jersey Chapter No. 1; one of America's five fastest-growing real estate managers by Chain Store Age; Top Retail Company by the Mid Atlantic Real Estate Journal; and one of the nation's Top 10 Redevelopers by Chain Store Age for the second year in a row. In January 2011, Commercial Property Executive magazine ranked Levin 30th among Top US Real Estate Companies. In August 2011, the publication again honored Levin as one of the industry's Top Property Managers.
Levin's portfolio includes more than 90 diverse retail properties totaling 12.5 million square feet. Properties range from downtown stores to lifestyle centers, and from neighborhood and community centers to power centers in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida.
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