Retail property owners continue to look for ways to increase rental revenues from their portfolio of properties. Specialty or ancillary leasing revenues have become a focus with many organizations looking to leverage pop-up or short-term tenancies as a way to drive revenues. While these initiatives can be a good way to explore a retailer’s potential success with minimal risk to both parties, their success is limited and rarely provide long-term value to the property.
Property owners can explore three potential outdoor tenants that are increasingly looking to leverage retail properties to deliver their services to the general public. These outdoor tenants provide long-term revenue streams and create long-term value for retail mall owners.
1 – Mobile Broadband (MBB) Networks: The proliferation of mobile broadband devices and continued demand for more services are forcing mobile network operators to install many more micro broadcast locations to meet demands. Mobile broadband operators offer reliable long-term revenues due to the limited relocation of sites or terminations at the end of a lease. Finding the right location on a property and managing any community resistance adds complexities that many property owners are not comfortable addressing.
2 – Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) Billboards: The Out-of-home billboard business is quickly transitioning away from static billboards to LED digital screens. Digitalization of the out-of-home advertising channel is attracting major investment and driving sizable long-term revenue streams from advertisers looking to reach consumers where they shop. Finding the right location on a property and managing any municipal restrictions adds complexities that many property owners are not comfortable addressing.
3 – Electric Vehicle Charging Services (EVCS): Electric vehicle adoption is soaring in Canada and is expected to reach 30% of new vehicle sales by 2030. The demand for public charging infrastructure locations is forecasted to exceed the gasoline distribution industry. Public charging as a service is growing at a rapid pace and several billion-dollar Charge Point Operators (CPOs) are quickly scaling their business across North America. Finding the right location on a property and managing utility coordination adds complexities that many property owners are not comfortable addressing.
The opportunity to attract these long-term tenancies comes with complexities that many retail property owners are not well prepared to address. Requests by different potential tenants at different times and for different locations on a property can add disruption and expenses to both the owner and tenants. Engaging a specialized development partner such as Northward Infrastructure can eliminate much of the uncoordinated activities and confusion surrounding the hosting of these new tenants on a property.
Northward represents property owners with all three potential long-term tenants and coordinates the location and installation of Northward’s eNABLE Hybrid Node for the benefit of all parties. We have developed an aesthetically pleasing single structure and installation footprint on a property that can host mobile broadband network equipment, digital out-of-home advertising billboard screens, electric vehicle charging systems, and mobile edge compute or IoT (Internet of things) networking equipment.
Through a success-based fee structure, Northward’s goals are aligned with that of the property owners to deliver long-term revenue and value creation.
Contact our team today to discuss how Northward Infrastructure can represent your portfolio.