Good news for retail in Downtown and surrounding neighborhoods

[zoo]

Tuesday, August 18, 2009, 1:52pm EDT  |  Modified: Tuesday, August 18, 2009, 1:53pm
Trade group calls for government help with commercial real estate
Jacksonville Business Journal - by Janet Leiser

The International Council of Shopping Centers is calling on the government to repair the capital credit markets and improve liquidity to help the retail industry recover.

Michael Kercheval, the CEO of the trade group, made the call during the ICSC 2009 Florida Conference in Kissimmee.

“The retail industry is experiencing one of the worst economic downturns in more than 50 years. If there’s no money, nothing else matters. We have to get the capital markets working again,” Kercheval said during the event, which is being held Aug. 16-18.

The ICSC is lobbying for changes to the federal tax code that would allow issuers of commercial mortgage-backed securities to extend commercial real estate loans without facing a tax penalty and is urging state governments to relax the capital requirements that banks have to meet on performing commercial real estate loans.

According to the ICSC’s 2009 Florida Retail Report released during the event, the industry will start to recover once Florida’s broader economy awakens and that the demand should return from 2011-2014.

“Barring a dismal holiday season, the retail sector is likely to emerge from the current recession without widespread bankruptcies or closures,” the report stated.

According to the report Jacksonville’s mid-year occupancy rate had dropped 2.4 percent to 87.4 percent from year-end 2008. Rental rates increased 0.4 percent to $15.40 during the same period.

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[Bewler]

Sounds good, but even if this is successful it’ll still probably be quite awhile before we see any immediate results.