Retail property management, from parking lot to tenant mix.
Plazas, strip centres, anchored centres and storefronts, where common areas, lease clauses and recoveries across many tenants decide how well a property holds its income. Across Ontario and Alberta.
What does retail property management involve?
Retail property management is about the shared parts of a property and the clauses in its leases: keeping parking, common areas and signage to the standard tenants pay for, recovering costs fairly across many tenants, and protecting the tenant mix through exclusive-use and co-tenancy terms, so the property stays leased and its income stays whole.
Common areas and parking
Shoppers judge a plaza by its parking lot, lighting, signage and cleanliness before they reach a store, so common areas are maintained to the standard tenants are paying for, through every season.
Tenant mix and lease clauses
Exclusive-use, co-tenancy, radius and signage clauses decide who can lease which unit and what happens when an anchor leaves, so every clause is tracked before a vacancy is offered to anyone.
Recoveries across many tenants
A plaza can have dozens of tenants on different lease forms, each with its own share, exclusions and caps, so operating costs and taxes are allocated lease by lease and reconciled in a way tenants can follow.
Turnover and vacancy
Retail units turn over more often than industrial or office space, so unit condition, signage, utilities and access are kept ready, and our brokerage leases vacancies with the tenant mix in mind.
Every kind of retail. Each with its own tenants.
Neighbourhood Plazas
Strip centres and neighbourhood plazas with a mix of service, food and convenience tenants, where parking, signage and common-area costs are shared across every unit.
Anchored Centres
Grocery-, pharmacy- and big-box-anchored centres, where the anchor’s lease, operating covenant and co-tenancy rights shape the whole property.
Storefronts & Street Retail
Single storefronts and high-street retail buildings, often with residential or office space above, where frontage, signage and the building envelope carry the value.
Mixed-Use Retail
Ground-floor retail in mixed-use and residential buildings, managed alongside the uses above it, with separate cost pools and access for each.
Every unit leased with the whole property in mind.
- 01
Property and lease review
We walk the parking lot, common areas, signage and roofs, and read every lease for recovery rules, exclusives, co-tenancy, percentage rent and renewal dates.
- 02
Common-area and recovery plan
We set service levels and contracts for the common areas, and rebuild the recovery model lease by lease so tenants are billed what their leases actually allow.
- 03
Handover
Leases, deposits, vendor and service contracts, keys and records are transferred, and tenants are notified in writing with no gap in collections.
- 04
Ongoing management
Rent, recoveries, sales reports and inspections run on a fixed calendar, with vacancies prepared and the tenant mix protected each time a unit turns over.
Priced on the property’s revenue, tiered by service.
The fee is based on the revenue the property produces and tiered by the level of service it needs, from lease and financial administration for a single storefront to full-service management of a multi-tenant plaza. We quote after reviewing the rent roll and leases; contact us for details. See also our commercial property management service and our commercial property valuation for owners weighing a sale or refinancing.
Retail property management, answered.
What is retail property management?
Retail property management is running plazas, strip centres, anchored centres and storefronts on the owner’s behalf: collecting rent and recoveries from many tenants, administering leases and their clauses, maintaining parking lots, common areas and signage, coordinating tenant turnover, and reporting to the owner, so the property stays leased and its income stays whole.
What are exclusive-use and co-tenancy clauses, and why do they matter to a manager?
An exclusive-use clause stops the landlord from leasing to a competitor of a tenant, such as a second pharmacy. A co-tenancy clause can let a tenant pay less rent or leave if an anchor closes or occupancy falls. Both limit what can be done with every other unit, so they are tracked before any vacancy is marketed or any lease is signed.
Who maintains the parking lot and common areas in a plaza?
Usually the landlord, through the manager, with the cost recovered from tenants as operating costs where the leases allow. That covers snow and ice control, sweeping, lighting, line painting, landscaping, pylon signage and paving repairs. Each lease sets which costs tenants share and in what proportion.
What is percentage rent?
Some retail leases add rent based on the tenant’s sales above a set level, on top of base rent. Collecting it depends on tenants reporting sales on time and accurately, so the manager tracks sales reports and reconciles percentage rent at year end as each lease requires.
What is different about managing restaurant tenants?
Restaurants bring grease traps, rooftop exhaust and make-up air equipment, gas service, heavier garbage and pest-control demands, and longer hours. The lease should say who maintains each item, and the manager makes sure it is actually done, because a neglected grease trap or exhaust system affects every tenant around it.
How much does retail property management cost?
Our fees are based on the property’s revenue, tiered by the level of service the property needs, from financial and lease administration for a single storefront to full-service management of a multi-tenant plaza. We quote after reviewing the rent roll and leases. Contact us for details.
Do you manage retail property in both Ontario and Alberta?
Yes. We manage plazas, strip centres, anchored centres, storefronts and mixed-use retail across Ontario and Alberta, from one building to a portfolio.
Tell us about the property. We'll tell you what it needs.
Share the property, its tenants and how it is run today, and we’ll recommend a service tier and quote a fee for it. No obligation.