Q&A With Owen Buckley

Q. The retail tailspin was pretty advanced well before the pandemic, which added to the challenges there. Do you get a sense that things are leveling off?

A. I do think they have stabilized a bit, and we’re seeing that both the online and physical store will play important part. People like convenience; that never goes out of style. With most things you see in this country, no matter what it is, success seems to be based on convenience of something—people buy or enjoy something because it saves time. The convenience of ordering from Amazon and getting products delivered to your door is obviously something people like.

Owen Buckley, founder of LANE4 Property Group.

Q. Is there an upside limit on how far that can go?

A. I think it will continue to grow, but also think it’s flattening a bit. The experience of retail—we’re social creatures, we like to interact, touch, feel and try different things on, try different foods. I think the physical part of retail will continue to be strong. I haven’t seen a lot of new construction in general over the last 10-12 years, so I think that’s helping, too. Every day, the country is getting bigger, but we haven’t built much new retail.

Q. What’s been the impact on investor interest in retail as part of their portfolio?

A. Believe it or not, retail is still sought-after in that regard, it’s actually getting better the last year or two. Last year, it performed right up there close to industrial and medical. One that did improve was investment sale of retail property—retail that provides essential needs and services. Those types of assets, shopping centers, for example, are still sought after, and vacancies are extremely low. That’s happening in Kansas City as well; our occupancies in our retail properties are very high. No complaints there.

Q. What are you seeing with adaptive reuse of retail settings that have hit rough patches?

A. I think it’s still playing out. Obviously, the big malls of the ’60s and ’70s, we’re not talking about that. But some power centers doing well, though they tend to trade at higher cap rates. And you have the issue of what to do when a junior box goes out, is there that long of a line to fill it. Those are category killers, but still, some are doing extremely well. Ross, T.J. Maxx, Dick’s Sporting Goods, those are three that are killing it. Bed Bath & Beyond and some of the others, as we’ve seen recently, not so much.

Q. Any of that reuse producing some interesting innovation?

A. There are a lot of entertainment concepts, not all of those have really proved themselves yet. Some have, some indoor children’s-type concepts are doing pretty well. We’re still going to continue to see teardowns, with something new coming in where the empty box sets.