Sports and entertainment destinations offer several benefits to retail properties — they boost foot traffic, encourage consumers to linger, complement traditional retail and provide opportunities for refilling vacancies. Pickleball, gaming and music venues are some of the most prolific concepts in today’s experiential marketplace. “These users draw consumers into a development,” says Tim Katt, managing director of Transwestern Real Estate’s sports and entertainment advisory group. “Their ability to take up large, often dormant spaces and activate them is undeniable.” Industry professionals emphasize that sports and entertainment tenants play a complementary role for traditional retailers. Steven Mueller, senior project manager with St. Louis-based HDA Architects, says that mixing entertainment concepts like pickleball with attached or adjacent restaurants is an “especially hot combination.” The idea is to entice guests to spend more time and money in a single location. “Entertainment is complementary to retail in the sense that you get cross-pollination between tenants,” says Beau Arnason, executive vice president of asset performance at Columbus, Ohio-based Steiner + Associates. “You may come to a lifestyle center for an entertainment experience, but stop for food, drinks and shopping along the way.” Properly curating entertainment uses within retail and food-and-beverage spaces provides the opportunity to …
