From Groundhog Day To A Murky Crystal Ball: Commercial Leasing During The Pandemic In late February 2020, Baum Realty Managing Director of National Real Estate Services Matt Fetter had 10 leases near completion, representing months of work with the retail clients he specialized in, such as Duluth Trading Co. and Aurelio's Pizza. In just weeks, as the reality of the coronavirus pandemic set in, all of them fell apart. Soon, as the Chicago-based real estate agent learned as he began re-engaging with clients, the old playbook didn’t matter anymore. “We had to shift a lot of what we were working on, and become more of a partner in real estate as opposed to a broker,” he said. “It started with combing through hundreds of leases and finding language on how to delay rent payments and work on rent forgiveness. Then as issues with labor, supply chains and staying open became more serious, everything got expensive. Finally, by the time there was some limited reopening in the Chicago area last summer, building out a new store was low on the totem pole.” As fears of the Delta variant spook the stock market, and even in the case of Los Angeles County, cause officials to reimpose mask mandates, those in commercial real estate who have worked through the last year and a half are reminded of the constantly shifting business landscape, and the need to continually adapt strategies. From keeping clients engaged through shutdowns to figuring out how to adapt to new office needs in a fluid and hybrid work environment, brokers and sales teams have had to constantly change incentives, sales pitches and even the type of real estate they were offering, according to four professionals in Miami and Chicago. 
“When Covid first started, there was really no hiding, nothing that people could do the first six or seven months,” said TSG Sales and Marketing adviser Phil Gutman, who recently co-developed Ofizzina, an office condo project in Miami. “It sent everything into a new direction, a new process of thinking…  Read the full story here. | | |
