Shopping center

Shopping Centers are undergoing a transformation just like everything else in this digital age.

Many people keep predicting the death of the mall and shopping centers.

But don't think for a second that shopping centers and physical stores are going to give up and go away.

Shopping centers are about to take a digital leap and undergo a major transformation that will breathe new life into old-fashioned stores.

And they will be incorporating all the newest technology, such as Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality, to make this happen.

Instead of focusing on a shopping destination, retailers will now refocus on a shopping experience.

A shopping experience that is better at meeting the precise needs of shoppers, and also gets them excited about visiting a store.

After all. As we have seen over the years, people like to get out of the house and go shopping, either downtown or at a mall.

But relying on the old bricks and mortar model has taken a beating.

So to get competitive, shopping

Demand for shopping center space is on the rise and that's great news for the US economy

Like everything, shopping center demand is cyclical. Up times. Down times. If you look at the latest data that's coming out, it's starting to look like a positive upswing is about to hit the industry real hard.

That's great news for the economy. That means more investment, more construction and retail jobs, more ancillary effects such as an increase in outdoor commercial furniture, trucking and local taxes.

Retail research company CoStar recently issued a report indicating that shopping center vacancies continue to drop and space is at its tightest level in the past eight years.

So there's the demand. Where's the response to that demand? CoStar says only 60 million square feet of retail space is being built right now. That's 90 million square feet less than the shopping center construction underway at the last peak in 2007.

Something's gotta give. And you are probably going to see a boom in building

Malls are now adding popular restaurant

There are basically three truisms that now affect the construction of malls. People still love to get out of the house. People still love to shop. And people love to eat.

Malls owners are changing their mindset for how they choose tenants and many are now adding high-end or popular restaurants as a way to attract more shoppers.

That's great for towns plagued with vacant space. That's great for malls looking to pull shoppers back from their computers. That's great for the economy as more restaurant workers, retail employees and construction workers get to work, more constructional materials and commercial site furnishings have to be manufactured and more stores get to stay in business.

At one time, malls seemed protective of their food courts and mainly focused on finding big anchor stores such as Sears, Macy's or Dillard's.

Those stores still have pulling power.

But with the popularity of the Food Channel and the rise of the "Celebrity Chef," savvy

Demand for commercial property is on the rise. This in turn increases the demand for related products such as appliances and commercial grade outdoor furniture

There's promising news in the real estate markets about the rising values of commercial property. And that promising development is positive for the US economy as well. It will mean an increase in construction, decrease in employment and the demand for more products, including commercial grade outdoor furniture.

The Urban Land Institute predicted in April that commercial real estate transaction volume will grow to $470 billion this year. That's $46 billion more than in 2014 and a healthy increase of 11%.

In fact, they predict this growth in commercial property will continue to trend upward to pass the $500 billion mark in 2016 and 2017, a 6% bump.

Warehouse rents and hotel revenue per room are forecast to be the leading property types with growth of nearly 4% for warehouse and 5.5% for hotels in the next few years. Experts predict

Malls start to see rise in occupancy rate

Malls are making a comeback and for mall managers, spring is the time to add more commercial outdoor furniture such as planters, benches, bike racks and outdoor ashtrays to keep that momentum alive.

In spite of a misled consensus that malls were doomed, the latest stats from the International Council of Shopping Centers shows that mall occupancy rates are now at the highest they have been in 27 years.

That's three, long, wrenching decades of recovery. Nearly 30 years of battling everything from recessions to smartphones shoppers.

"The 2014 data paints a very strong picture of the shopping center industry for the year ahead, and is especially promising in the mall segments," said ICSC spokesperson Jesse Tron. "Record growth in key indicators such as occupancy and NOI (Net Operating Income) strongly indicate a healthy outlook and further underline the ability of the industry to innovate to fit the needs of today's consumer."

The ICSC reports that