Brixmor Property Group, a major owner of open-air shopping centers, has already found tenants — because retail space is so scarce — for some of the stores being left vacant by troubled chains across the nation.
The New York-based real estate investment trust, which has a portfolio of 360 retail centers, on Tuesday discussed how it's leased a couple of stores that Big Lots and Conn's HomePlus are closing. Brixmor officials also said in some cases they are getting double or even triple the rent from those new occupants.
"Our team has already been very proactive," Brian Finnegan, just promoted to be Brixmor's permanent president, said during a second-quarter earnings call. "We'd be taking some of the space back in the tightest box-supply environment that we've ever seen. So, we feel really good about the demand we're seeing for that space."
There have been a series of store closings announced this year and a number of Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings. Columbus, Ohio-based Big Lots, which sells merchandise closeouts at bargain prices, is shuttering more than 140 locations, according to it website. And Conn's HomePlus, based in The Woodlands, Texas, recently filed for bankruptcy and is liquidating, pulling the plug on all its 550 stores.