How do you get into contact with national retailers like Wawa/Starbucks/Chipotle/etc. for a build to suit/ground lease development?
I've only developed hotels so far but I've had this piece of land for a while and I'm thinking it would better suited for a retail center instead of a hotel. Just looking for help/tips on where to start. Thanks!
[{"id": "g5hvhlz", "text": "I\u2019m gonna take pity on you cause I\u2019m not sure how old you are or how long you\u2019ve been doing this.\n\nCALL THE CORPORATE HQ. Look up numbers on google. Ask for their real estate departments all of these companies work with one broker for most of their work. Leave a message or get an email for the senior real estate person at the company if they like what you have, you\u2019ll hear from them", "replies": [{"id": "g5hz0h6", "text": "why is this downvoted?  thats literally how it works.  All those places have national corporate cre folks (internal) and hire firms for each market (or national firms who hire in each market for them).  If you go to their corporate website most even have a site selection page where it says what they are looking for and have a way to submit your site.  \n\nAlso your market most likely has established retail brokers who already have these connections and have worked with national retailers.  Consider hiring them or just calling them to pitch your site and see if they have any clients they may be interested in placing there.", "replies": [{"id": "g5jbpf1", "text": "Guys, I'm talking to someone who wants to buy a WaWa at a 4.5% cap rate.\n\nIs that the dumbest fucking thing you've heard of or are they the smartest person in the room?\n\nEdit, also, what's up num num I remember an AMA you did years ago", "replies": [{"id": "g5jd6rx", "text": "Wawa doesnt really operate in my market so I will leave that to someone else.  I'm doing good!  Hope you are too.  That was probably 3 or 4 years ago.  I hope I said something worth remembering ;)", "replies": [], "depth": 4}, {"id": "g5jy3v6", "text": "Loll 4.5%? For a WaWa??  For that same shit return you can buy a long-term lease abs. NNN Bank Of America AND it\u2019ll have a corporate guarantee", "replies": [{"id": "g5kzxbq", "text": "To be fair it's a 20 ground lease and the lease is guaranteed by WaWa corporate which is rated BBB by Fitch. All the same I'd rather have a BoA and no environmental conditions. 4.5% just seemed insanely low, but I mainly only look at DG's and Firestone wich are trading in 5% to 6%.", "replies": [{"id": "g68bh96", "text": "I wouldn\u2019t buy any real estate investment at a 5% cap, I make more than that while jerking off on my trading software", "replies": [], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}, {"id": "g5lhb4b", "text": "Yeah, WaWas have been trading super tight. I saw one listed near Tampa late last year that traded around a 4.6%. The only thing that makes sense to me is that the WaWa devs (probably an affiliate of WaWa) have a super low rent constant, then they're forced to spin off the asset at a lower cap rate than their rent constant so they can turn a profit. Either that or they're making a KILLING on the flip. \n\nFrom an investor standpoint, it's a BBB rated credit. Right now BBB bonds trade 175~200 bps over the UST, so if the 20-year treasury yields 120 bps, the bond will yield about 3%. I guess an investor figures that buying the real estate for a 4.5% cap is worth sacrificing the liquidity of the bond for the 1.5% spread. I guess everyone's just chasing yield right now, so everything is compressed including the spread. \n\nPersonally, I don't see the appeal. The environmental risks make fueling stations a big turnoff. I guess most coupon clippers either don't care or they're not educated on real estate and figure their asset is the same as a bond. Or maybe I'm the idiot and missing something big, lol.", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "g5hz5dw", "text": "Google the company, look for a link to the RE department, call. Be prepared with your demos, site specs, Phase 1 results, etc or they probably won't even talk to you because you aren't going to sound like a serious landlord", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "g5i3rtx", "text": "Not sure if you\u2019re an ICSC member or not, but you can search for corporate contacts on the ICSC page for just about every corporation.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "g5i800p", "text": "Normally I would suggest signing up for the next ICSC deal making conference in your local city.  I\u2019m guessing you are near Philly, since you started with Wawa, and that conference is typically around this time of year (although the NYC attracts way more retailers in December).   However in COVID times you have to go direct to the retailer or even better their local broker (most nationals have a local broker rep).  I\u2019d suggest getting all your facts and images for your site onto a one page brochure that you can send out to brokers/retailers as an intro and then follow up on the phone.  These are not normal times so you have to go back to the basics.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "g5ilhjo", "text": "find their brokers or preferred developers for that market.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "g5jiakx", "text": "[iyou're a landlord or developer with a great place for a store, please reach out to one of the contacts below.](https://www.starbucks.com/promo/store-design/contact-list)", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "g5kfcr1", "text": "Dude. Hire a broker and they will get the word out.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "g5l9aos", "text": "There used to be a book/newsletter published monthly or quarterly by Crittenden that had contact information and retailer data (number of stores, average square footage, type of building ie freestanding, in line, end cap, etc). Not sure if they\u2019re still useful, it has been about 7-8 years since I looked at the book.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "g692z7x", "text": "So one of my first jobs was doing Acquisitions/Development for a large retailer.\n\nI can tell you from experience that if they're truly interested, then you probably would've already been contacted.\n\nHowever, I'll lift up the skirt on the general conditions they're looking for:\n\n-You should have the MHHI for your area prepared (1-mile, 3-mile, 5-mile, etc)\n\n       -And hopefully this is on the higher side for the area\n\n-VPD for the cross-streets (depending on MSA, should be at least 20,000-25,000 VPD)\n\n-Retailers in the area (1-mile, 3-mile, 5-mile) and more specifically, competitors\n\nIf these tick the boxes, then you may be able to materialize a deal.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]