By Jonathan Fishman, co-founder, Bizydev Every business-oriented publication for the last 18 months has almost certainly churned out dozens, if not hundreds, of articles detailing how they believe COVID-19 will or has or might affect their market or industry. Real estate publications have exhaustively covered the deceleration of commercial office leasing, the population outflow in urban cities and corresponding battering of the multifamily market and the lack of business travel and tourism resulting in catastrophic conditions for the hotel sector. And of course, analysts and experts have been quick to note the sharp decline in physical retail space success thanks to the onslaught of e-commerce, further fueled by social distancing measures. Facing these challenges, many retail landlords have been forced to ask themselves what advantage they provide for their tenants. Given the realities of the commercial real estate market, landlords must explore ways to create value for their tenants and seek common ground with them to keep afloat. It’s no longer acceptable for landlords to just provide a storefront, a door and a raw space if they expect to be competitive in the retail leasing market today. They need to find new ways to market their spaces and highlight their …
