With seemingly all of the country's attention focused on
Washington DC lately, we snuck out of the District and across the
Potomac River to National Harbor last week for ICSC's 2017 Mid-Atlantic Conference and Deal
Making. The conference was very well attended, and the mood
among attendees and presenters was generally upbeat. Anecdotally,
the sentiment seemed to be that for, retail real estate in this
region, the sun is still shining—for the moment.
Restaurants Are Leading the Charge . . .
Restaurants, particularly unique, local, and slightly funky concepts (such
as food halls) are generally regarded as increasingly being
responsible for driving traffic to shopping centers. Seemingly
every demographic that carries a smart phone—millennials,
boomers, tourists, etc.—is seeking the next trendy dining-out
experience, presumably to actually eat a meal, but definitely to
fill up their Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and other social media
accounts. The social media cycle is
