From the Washington Post's Capital Business: When Morton’s Steakhouse signed up in September to move into the former Borders book store in Tysons Corner, the restaurateur only took 34 percent of the 28,988-square- foot space, leaving room for two more tenants.
Expect more of the same in 2012. Retail experts anticipate more landlords saddled with vacant big-box spaces will carve them up for multiple tenants, rather than let the buildings sit empty in wait for one large user.
Nearly 200,000 square feet of retail space came back on the market when Borders went out of business and closed its eight stores in the Washington area this year. Brokers representing the sites say interest is high, but most of the locations continue to languish on the market.
And their job is about to become more difficult. Filene’s Basement, which filed for bankruptcy in November, is set to add another 150,000 square feet to the market when it closes its four local stores next year. Another retailer could seek court approval to snap up some of Filene’s leases, much like Books-A-Million did with 14 of Borders’ sites. But the respective landlords already are considering their options. . . .
Wal-Mart, meanwhile, has moved aggressively to open new stores in Tysons Corner, the District, Oxon Hill and Rockville. The behemoth retailer has even taken over deals that fell through, such as JBG Rosenfeld’s plans to bring Home Depot to Pike Center shopping plaza. Wal-Mart’s voracious appetite for expansion may prove a blessing for landlords with loads of empty space.
Still, there is a burgeoning trend among big-box retailers to reduce the size of their store formats. Best Buy, Office Depot and Staples announced plans over the summer to scale back the size of their brick-and-mortar stores, as online sales continue to grow. . . . .
