Stein Mart Leases Disposition Begins

Emilio Amendola, Co-President, A&G Real Estate Partners. Image courtesy of A&G Real Estate Partners

In connection with its voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy and the resulting store closures, Stein Mart Inc., of Jacksonville, Fla., has assigned to A&G Real Estate Partners the job of marketing leases for about 280 store locations across the U.S. As the retailer’s real estate advisor, A&G, of Melville, N.Y., is also offering leases for three distribution centers and two office properties.

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Stein Mart stores range from 25,000 to 51,000 square feet and average 35,000 square feet. The chain, which filed for bankruptcy protection on Aug. 12, has stores in 30 states, with concentrations in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

The locations offer opportunities for retailers, grocers, gyms, entertainment venues, large medical facilities and other users to gain spaces at favorable rents in power centers, lifestyle centers and neighborhood centers, A&G Co-President Emilio Amendola said in a prepared statement.

Mike Matlat, Senior Managing Director, A&G Real Estate Partners. Image courtesy of A&G Real Estate Partners

The three distribution centers are a 91,761-square-foot facility in Ontario, Calif.; a 75,050-square-foot building in Grand Prairie, Texas; and a 30,122-square-foot site in Lithia Springs, Ga. Also available are a pair of 32,200-square-foot offices in Jacksonville.

Though marketing a few hundred retail leases might not be the easiest task right now, at least this isn’t A&G’s first time at this party. The firm has handled similar dispositions for numerous other retailers.

Opportunities and challenges

“Stein Mart’s management was very thrifty when it came to real estate and, consequently, the store portfolio offers a lot of locations with single-digit rents in good markets,” Amendola told Commercial Property Executive.

Stein Mart in Commack, Nassau County, Long Island, N.Y. Image courtesy of A&G Real Estate Partners

“Many of these stores were strong performers for Stein Mart and would be an excellent fit for off-price retailers, as well as supermarkets or other big-box uses,” he continued. “As we’ve seen with projects we’re handling for other retailers, this is a great time for opportunistic, growth-minded chains to pick up excellent locations at cheap rents.”

One of those other retailers is Modell’s Sporting Goods, for which A&G is marketing 137 store leases in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. In 2019, A&G finished up the sale of The Bon-Ton Stores’ last remaining department store properties.

Ongoing economic and employment uncertainty will cause consumers to spend “more cautiously and selectively” even though consumer confidence is rebounding, according to a midyear retail outlook from CBRE. Discount retailers are thus expected to do well.

Consumers “appear eager to return to brick-and-mortar retail for services and products that are not available online,” such as beauty services, dining, as well as health and wellness, said CBRE.