705: 40+ Years of Wisdom, Mistakes & The Endurance of Retail

Developing properties from the ground up is more profitable than acquiring existing properties, but entails far more expertise and risk. For starters, the approval and entitlement process is complex, and these projects generally take at least three to five years from approval to completion, and often longer. Many things change in this time frame from borrowing costs, the economy, plus labor and material costs. Very few operators have the expertise to both develop and acquire existing properties. Whereas conventional wisdom anticipated the death of retail twenty years ago, ecommerce has plateaued at 16%. Grocery anchored centers, in particular, are thriving. John McNellis, a seasoned developer, investor, writer, and lecturer, has over forty years experience developing 100,000 s/ft grocery anchored shopping centers withing a two- hour drive of where he lives in Palo Alto.