About James Taylor
James Taylor, CEO of Brixmor Property Group, has described the open-air retail sector as benefiting from strong fundamentals, citing "no new supply" combined with "robust demand" from retailers who have recognized the role of physical stores in serving customers. He has characterized tenant disruption as an opportunity to "bring in better tenants at better rent," noting that struggling tenants do little for a shopping center and can be replaced with tenants that drive more traffic and higher rents. Taylor stated that Brixmor has been increasingly active on the acquisition and disposition front, with about $200 to $300 million under control and expectations for that figure to grow.
Taylor has highlighted Brixmor's strategy of clustering investments in specific markets and reinvesting capital into existing properties. He cited examples such as the Shops at Palm Lakes in North Miami, where the company converted an older grocery store to a more relevant concept, replaced a dark Kmart with LA Fitness and dd's Discounts, and added outparcels, generating an incremental 8% return on $31 million invested. In Venice, Florida, he noted a $9 million investment at an incremental 11% return, creating over $8 million in additional value. Taylor has also emphasized the company's purpose of creating centers that serve as the heart of their communitiesholistic.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from James Taylor's recent appearances.
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Transcript (2 segments)
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James Taylor0:06
ER at the center Venice Village here in Venice Florida at the intersection of Tamiami Trail and Jacaranda Boulevard. This center is a great example of our value-added investment strategy, clustering our investments in vibrant markets like this one, but also finding great opportunities to put additional capital to work at compelling returns. For example, here at this center we invested nine million dollars at an incremental 11 percent return, creating over eight million dollars of additional value. We've also created value through driving rate and occupancy. I can't wait for you to hear from our team here at Brix Moore how we deliver value for you, our stakeholder.
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Chris Ralph0:49
Hi, I'm Chris Ralph, vice president of leasing at Brix Moore Property Group. I've been with Brix Moore for over 18 years. We're at Venice Village in Venice Florida, just south of Sarasota on Florida's West Coast. Venice Village was an ideal acquisition for Brix Moore. We have a tremendous relationship with Publix; they're our partner on 31 shopping centers throughout the southeast. We recognized that this Publix was underutilized and there was an opportunity for a scrape and rebuild. In addition to the new 48,000 foot Publix prototype, we've had great success with adding new small shop tenants including Five Below, Crumbl Cookie, Pedego which is an electric bike store totally appropriate for the market, and a lot of these rents are in excess of double digits over the previous tenant rents. Adding Venice Village to our Venice portfolio allowed us to increase our reach by over 50 percent. We also like the Venice Market because the population growth over five years is 11 percent, which is 125 percent higher than the rest of Florida. Part of our attraction to the Venice retail market is the median home value is 60 percent higher than the national numbers. Venice Village met our clustering criteria, which means we have multiple shopping centers in the same market. It gives us an opportunity to interact with tenants and put them in the best shopping center in the market at the best rents. Post redevelopment, our occupancy rate is now at 95.5 percent. At acquisition, the small shop occupancy rate was 79 percent; today it's 92 percent. The small shop rents have risen from 21 dollars per square foot to 25 dollars per square foot, which equates to an 18 percent increase, and the total ABR of the shopping center has risen by 47 percent from 13 dollars per square foot to 20 dollars per square foot. One of the most rewarding parts of a redevelopment is to see it come to a conclusion. I was here with one of our Brix Moore partners just prior to the Publix store opening on the mezzanine overlooking the store, and just talking about all the future birthday cakes and Thanksgiving dinners that would come through this store for the next 25 years.
