Pandemic opens new parking space rental opportunities for mall owners

A new deal turns the parking spaces of some U.S. malls into car theaters to host virtual events and show movies.

Parking spaces all over the state have the potential to become more prominent income sources for real estate owners as the coronavirus pandemic continues to remain a global threat.

The deal occurred between the Kilburn Live entertainment organizer and Brookfield Properties. According to it, some of the U.S. malls belonging to Brookfield will be used as car theaters to host virtual events and movies. At the same time, the coronavirus crisis makes it challenging for customers to find good outdoor entertainment to go in for. For now, at least five Brookfield malls in Houston, Denver, Dallas, Woodbridge (NJ), and Minneapolis are already functioning in their new role. As the officials of two business firms say, more of those will appear in future reports CNBC. 

According to the deals, Kilburn became the actual Brookfield’s tenant, same as Nike or Macy’s. They pay rents to use the spaces outdoor, according to the explanation of Brookfield’s retail department chief marketing officer Michelle Snyder.

As she also admitted in an interview about significant events and their hosting, the company has multiple concepts on how to use those parking lots. They rent other spaces when it is impossible to rent the mall itself.

The complex nature and environment of the current coronavirus pandemic require real estate owners to activate their creativity and look for alternative income sources.

For instance, numerous movie theaters can’t accept visitors as they are closed. Some states also have shopping centers locked down. For example, the order of Gov. Gavin Newsom of California made owners close malls in thirty counties (80% of the entire state’s inhabitants) once more during the week because of the new raise of coronavirus infection cases. The orders of Gov. Andrew Cuomo for New York centers say malls need to take care of high-quality ventilation solutions capable of filtering the coronavirus cells out before their reopening. 

Numerous customers continue maintaining caution with their return to shopping, cafes, and entertainment events, even even though places received governmental permission to accept visitors. 

Michelle Snyder again said that consumers are desperate about leaving homes. She also added on Brookfield setting up food courts near drive-ins to let people get some food to consume it while watching films. The Garth Brooks county concert took place in one of the drive-in spaces recently. 
Parking spaces throughout the country are also hosting food trucks, providing places to organize coronavirus testing procedures, pickup sites, and go in for more use cases.

Mason Asset Management chief, Elliot Nassim, admitted that things boil down to the real estate principal. His company’s business is based on buying distressed malls in cooperation with Namdar Reality Group, the NY-based investment company. According to Nassim, the owners of good real estate have many potential solutions for using it. 

The idea of making money with empty parking lots that way seems to be an excellent relaxation for landowners who have to deal with the current global problems causing many rental payers to prefer closing, being unable to pay full rent, or even not paying it entirely as the pandemic goes on.
The top-1 mall owner of the United States, the Simon Property Group, is filing a complaint about Gap Inc. not transferring rental payments. Nordstrom tends to “modify” rental charges until Jan 2021. Some other retail companies also admitted they are currently in use of the possibility to get better deals because of the Covid-19 situation. 

Other owners went for the permanent store closes. A set of bankruptcy filed businesses (RTW Retailwinds, Brooks Brothers, J.C. Penney, and others) are included in that list.

Photo credit: depositphotos.com.

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