Sandeep Mathrani, CEO of GGP (NYSE: GGP), joined REIT.com for a CEO Spotlight video interview at NAREIT's 2017 Washington Leadership Forum at The Hay-Adams.
GGP’s same-store net operating income (NOI) increased approximately 4 percent from 2015 to 2016. Mathrani said the growth is primarily “organic” and is mainly attributable to contractual rent increases, redevelopment of existing assets and spreads on re-leasing space.
Regarding the recent wave of retailer bankruptcies, Mathrani commented that there is an excess of retail space at this time.
However, Mathrani also emphasized that high-quality retail space like what GGP owns carries more value in the current market. He noted that GGP has repurposed vacated department store spaces for uses that are out of the ordinary in traditional shopping centers.
“If you own high-quality real estate, getting back high-quality real estate is actually an advantage,” Mathrani said. “When you’re recapturing [big box retail space], usually that retailer is not serving its purpose as a traffic generator.”