About David Lukes
David Lukes, president and CEO of SITE Centers, oversaw the spin-off of Curbline Properties in October 2024, which began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker CURB. Lukes described Curbline as the first publicly traded REIT solely dedicated to convenience properties, with no debt and significant cash on hand. He stated that the company focuses on small, convenience-oriented retail assets and that the strategy is driven by the use of geolocation data from cell phones, which he said has enabled institutions to confidently invest in unanchored convenience properties. Lukes noted that convenience properties thrive because customers spend little time on site, and he characterized the portfolio as balancing national credit tenants with local tenants.
Lukes described the retail market as "in a euphoric moment" with high tenant demand and limited space. He said SITE Centers had transacted a significant volume of property sales and acquisitions to fund the spin-off, calling it the most transaction activity he had seen in retail in a long time. Lukes emphasized a strategy of buying smaller properties with smaller tenants, arguing that this approach requires less landlord capital for growth. He also cited the work-from-home trend as a long-term driver for suburban convenience retail, and noted that the company uses cell phone data for both leasing and acquisition decisions.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from David Lukes's recent appearances.
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Transcript (6 segments)
I
Interviewer0:00
About 6 months ago we announced a spin-off of a new company called Curbline that will be spun off in the fourth quarter from Site Centers. That business is to grow by buying assets, particularly small retail assets that are convenience oriented. We've been very active in purchasing those types of properties. Joining me today is David Lukes, President and CEO of Site Centers Corporation. So David, to what extent is Site Center seeing acquisition opportunities or the chance to dispose of properties in the current market?
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David Lukes0:31
Well, normally, thanks for having me. Normally, I'd say that answer would be very quick and that we were finding a couple of things here and there. But about six months ago we announced a spin-off of a new company called Curbline that will be spun off in the fourth quarter from Site Centers. That business is to grow by buying assets, particularly small retail assets that are convenience oriented. We've been very active in purchasing those types of properties. We just had a press release go out on Monday that suggested that we have almost $200 million of deals that are moving towards contract to buy. And to fund those and to make the spin take place, we're also selling a lot. In that same press release, if you quantify the aggregate amount of assets that we have been selling, we've got a little over two and a half billion of properties that we've either sold, are under contract, or we've awarded to buyers in the last six or eight months. So we've got a lot of transaction activity happening right now. It's a very active market. Extremely active market right now. In fact, in all the years I've been in retail, this year is the most transactions I've seen take place in a very long time.
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Interviewer1:36
Interesting. Can you point to an aspect of your latest earnings report that you feel especially highlights your broader strategy?
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David Lukes1:42
Yeah, I think if I go back to our spin-off announcement, strategically speaking, retail is in a euphoric moment right now. Tenant demand is very high, there's very little space left on the market, rents are growing, tenants came out of COVID very strong and looking for space. But from our perspective, to differentiate ourselves, this new strategy of buying smaller properties with smaller tenants is really around one fundamental issue: there are more tenants that will take smaller spaces, and the landlord contribution of capital or CapEx to generate growth in those properties is much lower than a traditional format open-air shopping center. So our strategy is consistent growth over time with much less landlord capital, and I think that's going to be a winning strategy in an environment where the cost of capital is higher than it was a few years ago.
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Interviewer2:33
And what do you expect to be prioritizing at Site Centers over the short to medium term?
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David Lukes2:38
The short and medium term for us is very tactical. We have two companies that'll be operated by the same group of employees. We have a shared service agreement which will have to operate both of those companies. We've got a lot of tactical nuts and bolts things going on between buying and selling. I mean, for a company of our size to transact in two and a half to three billion dollars in 12 months is a lot of work. So I would say that the nuts and bolts of running the business is definitely taking the majority of the time in the near term.
