Retail realty sales are blank in Oklahoma City (http://newsok.com/retail-realty-sales-are-blank-in-oklahoma-city/article/3428576#ixzz0bGulA233)
NO TRANSACTION OVER 25,000 SQUARE FEET IN 2009; Value of commercial properties may decline
BY RICHARD MIZE The Oklahoman
Published: December 31, 2009

It doesn’t get any starker than this: "There is no retail sales market at present.”

Thus begins the bleak summary of 2009 investment sales of stores and shopping centers in Oklahoma City. There was none, at least none over 25,000 square feet, the minimum size tracked by Price Edwards & Co.

Weak consumer spending and the lack of financing killed retail investing, and when it revives, properties in the metro area could see a loss in value of 20 to 25 percent, said Jim Parrack, senior vice president at Price Edwards.

He cautioned that that was only an informed guess — since there were no sales in 2009 on which to base it — and pointed out that nationally analysts see a 30- to 40-percent crash in retail values.

Price Edwards’ new retail property summary describes the playing field:

"Buyers are expecting deep discounts in a recessionary market with higher capital costs. Money is standing on the sidelines waiting for distressed deals or stressed sellers who can’t refinance their property given current tight underwriting. Sellers, on the other hand, are nervous but are typically still seeing good income from their projects and don’t want to sell in a down market.”

The standstill can’t last much longer, Parrack said, since loans will come due on some properties in coming months, which will force some sales at lower-than-desired prices no matter the strength of a properties’ income.

However, he said he expected no more than a few distressed sales and none of prominent properties not already in the spotlight.

The most prominent local retail property destined to sell at a discounted price, of course, is Crossroads Mall, which landed in the hands of the Federal Reserve as a result of the April 2008 merger of Bear Stearns Cos. Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Price Edwards is marketing Crossroads Mall with an asking price of $24 million, less than half its assessed value in 2008, but the firm can’t talk about it because of a confidentiality agreement.

Since the Crossroads property can be divided into up to nine parcels, some portion of it is expected to sell this year.

Read more: NewsOK (http://newsok.com/retail-realty-sales-are-blank-in-oklahoma-city/article/3428576#ixzz0bGulA233)

And developers keep building new strip centers. Granted, this article only tracks sales of retail centers, not occupancy, but no one is buying the for sale or empty centers because developers keep building new ones instead of using the existing.

Retail in Oklahoma City saw no love lost with passing of 2009
Analyst forecasts ‘up-and-down year’ for market in 2010
BY RICHARD MIZE The Oklahoman
Published: December 31, 2009

Good riddance, 2009 — don’t let the closed stores’ doors hit you on the way out.

That’s the gist of the year-end retail property market summary just released by Price Edwards & Co. Lost jobs, slow home sales, the energy swoon, reduced consumer spending, closed stores — all took their toll.

Investors and landlords hope for the best in 2010, but even with signs here and there of economic recovery nationally, they should be ready for an up-and-down year, said Jim Parrack, senior vice president and retail specialist at Price Edwards.

Retail property in the Oklahoma City area ended the year 14.8 percent empty, compared with 13 percent at the end of 2008, Price Edwards said. The metro area mirrored the nation, which ended 2009 with a vacancy of 10.3 percent, up from 8.4 percent at the end of 2008, the firm said.

Nationally, analysts, pointing to store chains with thin balance sheets, think store closures will peak early in 2010, Price Edwards said.

"Here in Oklahoma City, we’ve had some national closures, most of which have not been backfilled, but the real worry is how long local tenants can hang on in the current market,” the firm said, noting that the retail sector here has already grown lean.

Poor-performing stores and those operating inefficiently, with unwieldy inventories, overloaded payrolls, unexamined marketing strategies and the like are fewer and the days are numbered for those remaining, the firm said.

"The market has gone a long way toward taking care of the poor performers. Everyone is familiar with the long list of failures and consolidations. And while we’ll see more in 2010, the correction has been made,” Price Edwards said.

"For the survivors, virtually all have spent the last six months getting their acts together: cutting costs, reducing inventory and getting back in touch with their customers. All of which bodes well for the future.”

Yet uncertainty defines the economy, its retail sector and its retail property market, so property owners and landowners need to take "whatever steps needed to retain tenants, being aggressive yet flexible in pursuing a smaller pool of new tenants,” the firm said.

Read more: NewsOK (http://newsok.com/retail-saw-no-love-lost-with-passing-of-2009/article/3428580#ixzz0bHD1Azf5)