PREIT's Proactive Moves To Counter Choppy Retail Real Estate

Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (NYSE:PEI) — better known as PREIT — is making every effort to enhance and diversify its tenant mix. Recently, the company announced the opening of a 46,000-square foot Burlington at Magnolia Mall in Florence, SC. Along with this, a 20,000-square foot HomeGoods and 8,500-square foot Five Below, Inc. (NASDAQ:FIVE) are set to open in Spring 2018. Also, a 20,000-square-foot H&M store is slated to open in 2018.

This comes as part of PREIT’s proactive anchor redevelopment initiative aimed at diversifying the tenant mix, meet shoppers’ demand and boost sales per square feet of the retail property.

In fact, the Burlington store has come up in the space which was previously occupied by Sears. PREIT recaptured the spaces previously occupied by Sears and fully leased the box in less than nine months. Also, this year for PREIT, this tenant marked the fourth of six stores opening in the previous department store boxes. Notably, with value retail and fast fashion segments gaining market share, the move to add these retailers seems a strategic fit which is likely to boost the retail asset’s importance in the market.

Not only is PREIT focusing on the Magnolia Mall, the company also recently announced the opening of a 100,000-square-foot store by Herberger's at Valley View Mall in La Crosse, WI. This store came up in the previous Macy's Inc. (NYSE:M) location, thereby backfilling a store which shut down six months ago.

In addition, earlier in September, PREIT announced the opening of three new retailers — DICK’S Sporting Goods (NYSE:DKS) , Field & Stream and HomeGoods — at Viewmont Mall in Scranton, PA, within the space which was previously occupied by Sears Holdings Corp.

Admittedly, the shrinking mall traffic and store closures amid aggressive growth in online sales have kept retail REITs, including PREIT and others like Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG) and GGP Inc. (NYSE:GGP) , on tenterhooks. In addition, tenants are demanding substantial lease concessions owing to a turbulent retail real estate market scenario. Nonetheless, retail REITs are countering this dreary situation and putting in every effort to enhance the productivity of the malls, by trying to grab attention from new and productive tenants, and disposing the non-productive ones on the other hand.

PREIT, too, along with its remerchandising efforts, has resorted to a portfolio rejig, selling 17 lower productivity malls, as well as other non-core properties since January 2013. This helped the company reap more than $750 million in gross proceeds. (Read more: PREIT Closes Sale of 17th Low-Productivity Mall for $33.2M)

Such steps are likely to help PREIT efficiently tide over the lackluster retail real estate environment and ride on the growth curve as well.

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Dick's Sporting Goods Inc (DKS): Free Stock Analysis Report

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Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PEI): Free Stock Analysis Report

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