Conor Flynn, CEO of Kimco Realty (NYSE: KIM), participated in a video interview at Nareit’s REITworld: 2022 Annual Conference held in San Francisco on Nov. 15-17.
Kimco is benefiting from the lack of any new supply, Flynn said. “It’s been over a decade since any real new material supply has come online, and we’ve seen that the demand from the retailers is quite strong, especially for the right location,” he noted.
Flynn added that the right location seems to be what every retailer is focused on today in terms of enhancing their supply chain because the store is no longer used for just in-person shopping. It’s now plugged into the supply chain and used for last mile distribution, which has been the big change post pandemic, he said.
Turning to the recent monetization of part of Kimco’s Albertsons investment, Flynn said the sale of $300 million in shares has provided dry powder that the company is already putting to work, having recently acquired shopping centers on Long Island.
Kimco still has over 23 million Albertsons shares left, and the REIT can potentially sell $300-400 million a year over the next two to three years, Flynn pointed out.
Meanwhile, Kimco will be monitoring the financial health of its tenants in the year ahead, Flynn said, as the company has a lot of data that can be analyzed on a real-time basis. Although consumers are clearly being stretched in the current economic environment, they continue to seek essential goods and services and to engage with shopping centers. “Overall today, the strength is still there.”