Well probably not, but there was an interesting article in the New York Times yesterday discussing the fact that with the economic downturn, a lot of smaller retail shops who would have otherwise been cast aside for higher paying tenants are able to negotiate acceptable terms with their landlords. Does this describe Georgetown as well?
The article focused primarily on the Lower East Side, which while up and coming is not all that comparable to Georgetown. Nonetheless, there is some evidence that the blockbuster tenants are not banging down the door to get into Georgetown right now, at least not as much as they used to. For instance, it was only a year or so ago that it appeared to be a done deal that a T-Mobile store would displace Nathans. Now the restaurant is in negotiations with their landlord to hold on to the lease. Without the severe real estate downturn, that probably wouldn’t be happening. Moreover, a couple decently large spaces along our main strips have sat empty for a while.
Of course, the catch-22 for the smaller retail stores is that the one thing that may be given them a chance to stay at their locations is the very thing that is probably killing their business. A walk up Wisconsin yesterday indicates to GM that the vacancy rate in Georgetown is still very low, but the number of stores going out of business is probably the highest it’s been in years.
Anyone know what the state of lanlord-tenant relationships are these days?
The Georgetown Metropolitan 