By: KeyCrew Media
When a lease expires, or a storefront sits empty, most owners ask the same thing: who can we lease this to, and what rent can we get? Ann Ehrhart, founder of the Boston, Massachusetts retail advisory and leasing firm EVERSTREET, says that question often comes too early.
“A lot of decisions we think of as leasing decisions are actually asset management decisions first,” she said.
Start With The Strategy, Not The Listing
A lease expiration, a block of retail coming back, chronic vacancy, a new merchandising plan, or the annual budgeting cycle all tend to set off a leasing response. Ehrhart suggests answering a different question first: what is the best strategy for this asset, given where the market is headed?
Once that is settled, leasing becomes the way to carry out the plan. Her advice is to make decisions deliberately and then execute quickly. “You don’t want good real estate sitting on the market for months or even years,” she said. The longer a space sits, the more the market starts to question the opportunity itself.
Leasing Should Execute The Plan, Not Create It
Traditional brokerage is built to complete transactions, and Ehrhart, who leads a leasing team herself, calls that an important function. The trouble starts when the leasing process is used to figure out the strategy.
“Leasing should execute the strategy, not determine it,” she said. Before going to market, ownership should understand what the market supports, what physical product tenants want, what economics are realistic, and what capital investment is justified. With those answers, the leasing team has a clearer mandate and a stronger product to sell.
Ehrhart also cautions owners to treat going to market as a decision in its own right. Once a space has been widely marketed and repeatedly passed over, the market forms an opinion about it, regardless of the space’s actual value. That’s why she recommends pressure testing a plan before spending months pursuing it or committing capital and soft costs to design. Three questions help: Is there consumer demand? Will tenants want to be here? Can the economics work?
Use Lease Events To Revisit The Asset
A lease expiration or a stretch of vacancy is a chance to ask whether the market has changed. Is this still the best use? Should the space be reconfigured? Would targeted capital improve the opportunity?
“The question isn’t simply, can we lease the space that exists today? It’s, should we?” Ehrhart said. A signed lease is not necessarily proof that the right problem was solved. The goal is the transaction that best supports the overall asset business plan, not occupancy for its own sake.
The same thinking applies across a portfolio. Instead of relying mainly on today’s rents, comparables, or broker feedback, predictive modeling can help ownership look three to five years ahead. Which assets warrant more retail investment? Which should be repositioned? Where should capital be preserved?
That forward view matters in development, too. Ehrhart said multifamily developer clients have described apartments leasing up and stabilizing within 18 to 24 months of construction completion while the retail lags behind. That gap creates uncertainty around capital decisions for the whole project, and better forecasting helps keep retail from becoming an unexpected drag.
How To Tell Which Problem You Have
Ehrhart frames most of these choices as capital allocation decisions: how to invest, how much, and whether to reconfigure, reposition, renew, or wait. Retail buildouts can require significant capital, and the wrong physical decision is hard to undo.
Before assigning a space to a broker, she suggests owners work through four questions. What does the market support? What outcome are we trying to create? What capital is justified? What should the physical product be? EVERSTREET’s Activate Your Street process follows that order, starting with demand and strategy before moving into leasing.
Sometimes the answer really is a leasing problem. If the strategy is sound, the space is right, and the economics reflect the market, the fix may simply be better or more aggressive leasing. The point is knowing which situation you’re in.
“Before you solve the leasing problem,” Ehrhart said, “make sure leasing actually is the problem.”
About Everstreet
EVERSTREET is a Boston, Massachusetts-based retail leasing, strategy, and activation advisory led by Ann Ehrhart, a 20-year retail leasing veteran working with mixed-use developments across the Boston area and into new growth markets. Learn more at everstreet.co.
Disclaimer: This article is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or investment advice. The views and opinions expressed herein reflect those of the individuals quoted and do not represent an endorsement of any company, product, or service mentioned. Readers should conduct their own due diligence and consult qualified professionals before making any investment decisions.
