Guest: Dan Nieman
Topics: The Golf Factory, leasing deals

Transcript:

Chris Ressa 0:00
This is Retail Retold, the story of how that store ended up in your neighborhood. I’m your host, Chris Ressa, and I invite you to join my conversation with some of the retail industry’s biggest influencers. This podcast is brought to you by DLC Management.

Today’s episode is brought to you by Lease Pilot. Lease Pilot is a partner of ours at DLC and they provide innovative solutions to help us close commercial leases faster.

Welcome to Retail Retold, everyone. Today I am joined by Dan Nieman, Vice President of Leasing DLC. I’m excited to be here. Welcome to the show, Dan. Yeah, Chris. Thanks for having me.

Dan, so we’re gonna start.

Dan Nieman 0:58
Yeah, my name is Dan Neiman. I live in Charlotte, North Carolina, started as a leasing rep at DLC management in our Atlanta office about five and a half years ago. And now I’m Vice President of Leasing, I handle roughly 5 million square square feet across the Southeast and Midwest, and I am what I would call a player coach role. Some of the assets I handle individually, others I oversee, I am associated with someone who runs the day to day leasing efforts.

And I’m in Chicago, Northwest Indiana, Fayetteville, Arkansas, North Carolina, Florida, Georgia. So I’ve been able to grow within DLC. And I’ve had an opportunity to work for and with some of the brightest minds in our industry. But you didn’t make it easy on me, and I put forth a lot of effort just to convince you to hire me. So I figured I would throw that out there.

Ressa 1:50
So I’m staring at a boat on my desk that I actually cherish. So I think it’s a good place to start. Why don’t you tell everyone why there’s a boat on my desk? Let me show everybody. That’s all. Yeah. Give them a taste.

Nieman 2:12
This guy? Yeah, yeah. So I started in acquisitions in Atlanta, and RCG ventures, I was looking at, you know, around, and a lot of the leaders of our organizations and those that are our organization, and those that I had exposure to, a lot of those individuals had leasing experience. So I decided I wanted to get a holistic education of retail real estate, to get it.

So I wanted to get into leasing, and then likely work my way back to acquisitions. So I ended up moving to Charleston, South Carolina, in a leasing role, a great group out there, and one of my good friends at the time was working for you and DLC. And through various conversations, he kept talking about DLC and Chris Ressa, and how much he was learning and a lot of which was at 6:30 or 7am weekly calls.

And I still have a standing call with you at 7:30am. So just FYI. But at some point, I think he mentioned me to you. And you sent me a LinkedIn message, asking if I liked leasing and if I wanted to stay in it, and I think I responded with, I like it, but I’m not 100% sure. And then fast forward a few weeks, and I was finally ready to pursue a role at DLC. So I filled out an application, I took the PI test, spoke to Jillian, who’s the head of people in DLC, but you wouldn’t set an interview.

I think through the grapevine I had heard that you didn’t want anyone who wasn’t committed to leasing. So at that point, I wasn’t really sure how I was gonna get an interview with you. I was on the road for work, actually. I think I was actually working out at the end of the day, and I like history, and I don’t know why, how or why this popped into my head but I remember the story of Hernan Cortes in the 1500s burning his boats when they landed on shore.

Right, so you go, they win or they died, and I left the gym. I went straight to Hobby Lobby, I found a large boat with these big sails that you just showed, bought a lighter, went back to the Marriott, snuck around into the very back of the parking lot, lit the ship on fire. I did have a bottle of water to put it out relatively quickly. And then I included some instructions with with a few envelopes that explained the story. I think I even snuck a Stuart Scott quote in there as well.

And then the next morning I woke up, took the boat to FedEx, and it still smelled like smoke, soaking wet. The associate came up to me, she quickly ran the graph, her manager wasn’t really sure how to how to handle shipping a boat from Raleigh, North Carolina to New York, when it still smelled like smoke and dripping with water. So eventually they agreed to send it for me. So I sent that up to you. And yeah, that got me an interview, just an interview though.

Ressa 5:18
But, so I would say the following. I think it, you know, I’ve interviewed 1000s of people for roles, and no one’s ever sent me a boat. And it’s not about it wasn’t good. It was the, it was the thought and effort that I realized, went behind this. And I think that’s a message to anyone out there. Like, Dan wanted an opportunity and was trying to separate himself from everyone else.

And, you know, he got pretty creative to open the door for himself. And there’s a lot of people who are looking for the door to be opened for them, and Dan opened the door himself. And kudos to you. It’s a story I’ll never forget. And the boat is still on my desk today. So really, really cool. thing you did, I learned a lot about you. And I learned a lot just in general. About, you know, people’s character and you know, when they really want something really bad. So cool story. Yeah.

Nieman 6:32
And to finish that story, though. I was able to get the interview, and I think you interviewed me at ICSC in Las Vegas. My bag got lost the night before, I came in late, was able to throw my suit on, and you were the third person at DLC who had interviewed me. So it had been a long morning already. And I went through the interview, I thought I did okay, I wasn’t happy with a few of my responses.

And I remember leaving the interview, and I call my girlfriend and now wife and telling her that I feel like I just lost that interview. And she said, she said, Daniel, you can’t lose in either an interview. Either you did okay, or you didn’t. And I was like, no, I’ve lost basketball games, and negotiations. I feel like I just lost that. I remember going back and the rest of the show, I was replaying a lot of my answers. But eventually, I got an offer. And you hired me, and the rest is history.

Ressa 7:31
So, pretty cool. So you mentioned basketball. I think that’s an interesting part of you as well. So, you know, growing up, I’m always interested in people’s pasts growing up, and growing up basketball was a huge part of your life. And you played basketball division one, why, talk about that?

Nieman 7:49
Yeah, so I love basketball, at an early age I played on Chris Paul’s travel team. He was based out of Winston Salem. I grew up in Concord, North Carolina. So I had some exposure to that at a pretty young age, which was incredible. I won a state championship.

And I was able to go play division one basketball at a small-mid major school out in Myrtle Beach called Coastal Carolina. And yeah, it taught me a lot about life and hard work and being able to balance a lot of different things at once. So it’s been a great part of my life, and I still love the sport today. March Madness is my favorite favorite time of the year.

Ressa 8:34
So yeah, well, I still think we have to do it.

Nieman 8:41
I know what you’re gonna say, I know what you’re gonna say. Isn’t this fifth time you said this out loud? So next time I come up to New York, I’m bringing…

Ressa 8:52
I want you to bring, next time you come to New York, I want you to bring, we’ll find a court, I want you to bring and not some indoor patency, I want outdoor net ripped. I want really tough, and I want the foul line faded. Like, we’re not really sure where that line is. And that’s headquarters, I want to plan on, you know, it’s fenced in, the fences. It’s like, you gotta really like, you know, working to open the gate.

Nieman 9:25
Oh my gosh, see, I’ve lived this before, I played against wrestlers, football players. And I always remember my high school coach telling me to avoid all this exact situation at all times while I was in season because you never know whether you’re going to come back alive. But okay, we can do that.

Ressa 9:47
So, the next time you’re in New York, and get cold I haven’t been cold since I was a little kid no matter what the temperature is outside. So Although, unless there’s some common ground, it doesn’t matter what kind of beautiful play so let’s, let’s bring some DLC folks.

Nieman 10:15
Yeah, that deal, that works for me. Okay. I’ll probably have sweatpants and a hoodie on but…

Ressa 10:24
Yeah, I’ll probably do so I’ll probably do like thermal with a t-shirt over mesh shorts and Jordans.

Nieman 10:34
Okay. I’ll be up there in December for ICSC, so. Okay, I feel like we should play that game after the show, just in case.

Ressa 10:48
I’m not going to tell you that you might.

Nieman 10:49
I know. Honestly, I’m more worried about myself here.

Ressa 10:55
Have you ever broken any bones?

Nieman 11:01
Yeah. Bunch of fingers. Dislocated a few as well. So, but nothing serious. Nothing, nothing serious.

Ressa 11:11
Yeah, the only major injury I had in athletics growing up was, so my sophomore year is the year of high school, like, I started to come into my GM a bit. And I was starting to get, you know, noticed and growing up, I was pretty solid youth wrestler. And so everybody knew me. But freshman year, there was some of my peers throughout the state of Jersey who really excelled on the state level, and I didn’t, as a freshman in sophomore year, it was clear I was gonna make an impact. And, you know, locally, I was pretty confident.

You know, the state tournament, I didn’t need it in any sense. But what did my record to be strong for seeding purposes as the postseason came? Right. I didn’t want to have like mismatches and things like that. So yeah, hurt sick didn’t matter. I was prepared to compete. And I’m rarely you know, injured. Even in college, we’ll be out of match. eye injury defaulted from one action college where you only have so much time before you the match is over.

Like, like, like you can’t continue besides that. One, that was pretty tough. So I raised this is to get a photo of dad that did not want to make a mouthpiece at the time. It wasn’t like a rule you had to it’s now a rule not because of me, but if you ever do Brescia formalities anyway. Short Matthews. So, I mean, I’m wrestling and like, you know, just like no move or anything, just like a knee might be through my entire swipe my teeth through my lip.

Right. And this was in the semi finals of the tournament. And so, you know, when they say matches, so we went right to the ER. And, you know, they were like, recommended Hey, this is like the dude’s face. Like you we need like special plastic surgery in my dad’s like, sewn up right now. These vials are at 7pm It’s three o’clock or so. And I’m operating out. And he’s getting back out there. Kind of felt the same. So didn’t have some fancy plastic surgeon. So we got back there.

A gazillion stitches all on my face. And it was like, it was I want to say 40 stitches, 45 stitches all over. Wow. And so now, like, like, how are you gonna rest it? It just so happens, like, they have like this mask you can wear which is the worst thing ever. It’s like so hard to breathe this protective mask. But by the time we got back from the hospital, they were done. So the tournament was over.

So I didn’t rest on the vital sticking counters of loss because I never stepped on the mat. The person one that ordered me to buy, you know, like, you know, like forfeit the finals, but for the next three weeks, four weeks, I had to wear this mask and match which was just, you know, I looked like you know, from out of space because this mattress is love t shirt and so we’re waiting top here, but that’s sort so let’s talk real estate.

Nieman 15:01
Yeah, let’s do it.

Ressa 15:03
Alright. So I’ll start here. Before we get into you have a story, Samuel in Chicago, pretty big center and important to us, called Randhurst Village, you got a story about a deal there. But before we get to that, let’s what’s what’s your, you know, we get on this blind news media, and I’m pretty public, and I’m out there on video. LinkedIn, been a little soft on LinkedIn lately, you gotta get my game back up.

But at the end of the day, you know, pretty people kind of like us on the state of the market. What do you what are you seeing out there like from? You know, we hear what headline used to say, and what’s like happening on the ground that at a realistic level, what are you seeing out there from, you know, retailers? And what’s going on in the stands take?

Nieman 16:00
Yeah, for sure. And I think I have a bit of a unique perspective, just given the given the geographical territories that I cover, right, you know, there’s been a lot of talk about the southeast and the Sunbelt, and seeing a lot of population growth, but even what, you know, kind of in the Midwest section of where I I operate in as well.

I don’t think the asset level fundamentals, not including any debt or capital markets related, I truly don’t think they’ve ever been stronger in terms of, you know, occupancy levels, demand for space, renewal increases across the portfolio, and that that’s applicable to the Midwest and in the southeast, where, where we own and operate real estate that I cover, I don’t think in any time in my career, it’s been a short career been in the industry for roughly 10 years, but in comparison to others.

Thirdly, I have never seen the type of demand and increased percentage that we’ve gotten over year, the prior year, for some of the renewals that we’ve been able to execute. So I would my, my two cents would be that the asset on an individual basis, has truly been the strongest that I’ve seen him asset to asset.

Ressa 17:20
The fundamentals notwithstanding, you know, I think retail real estate already took its pain, long over the last, you know, 15 years, there was a lot of pain that had common retail real estate, and that kind of washed out, maybe some other asset classes are feeling some pain than they never had before.

Nieman 17:39
For sure, and I also think, when you look at, right, like, I think the number was during COVID, I looked at I had 200 small businesses in my portfolio, they don’t account for the larger portion of revenue, but you need small businesses to do well. And to lease a lot of small shop space. So from a revenue percentage, it doesn’t make a lot of your center, and most cases, but you need them, and you really get more of a feel for how the lower to middle to higher income consumers are doing and how businesses are doing.

And we’ve seen that a lot of the small businesses are still growing. If they have one unit in Naples, they want a second in Fort Myers and a third in Tampa. And, and that’s, you know, that’s applicable again, to other markets that that I operate in.

Ressa 18:30
So yeah, actually, I just, you know, looked at some stats, and did a recording, the small business formation is at a pre pandemic levels. And with the exception of 2020 into 21, it’s as high as it’s been every small business formation and it’s growing enough. So that’s pretty remarkable to me, I think a lot of people would die small business, especially the SBA organization to small business loans, and given interest rates, you would think there’d be a slowdown.

But there hasn’t been yet, which is pretty interesting on the small business farm, give every one of you like, Okay, so are its lollipops and rainbows out there, what what what types of businesses are, you know, opening new units? What are you seeing that successful out there? And, you know, you know, taking space in these problems across the country.

Nieman 19:31
Yeah, and I also bucket the smaller franchisee groups into the small businesses of America because a lot of times, a lot of times they’ll have one to five locations or it’s their first location. So we’ve certainly seen a lot of growth through franchise systems. We’ve seen you know, a lot of the cat are fast, casual, quick service.

We’ve seen a lot of, even what we would call med tail, right a lot of the medical spa we’ve seen them start to franchise and then we’ve also seen of course the nail salons are always growing and expanding but they now offer wine or beer, and so we really see an increase in beauty and services.

Salon Suite concepts are also on the rise as well as the fitness category has rebounded I think they had you know, kind of hey, let’s protect our assets and go in asset management mode during the pandemic and they’ve certainly come come out swinging as they they have seen consumers want to get back into the gym. So it really has been applicable to a lot of these different categories.

Ressa 20:40
What’s speaking, what’s the dance your workout chain? What’s the routine looking like these days what type of workouts

Nieman 20:49
Yes, I’m I’m going to the YMCA in Charlotte North Carolina there’s the YMCA really dominates the fitness industry so I’m I’m an early riser and go get a self instructed workout in the morning and do some cardio after and then get back at it.

Ressa 21:09
So I didn’t know you were going to the Y these days so typically at the wise in America there’s a lot of pickup basketball games happening you know some how much there happens in the morning that actually can can we find you slept some theories that first off? Can you talk?

Nieman 21:30
Today? Probably not have I dunked in my lifetime? Yes. Yeah, definitely.

Ressa 21:34
All right. Can I Can I watch a division one basketball game? And again?

Nieman 21:41
You cannot? You cannot be the only division one basketball player that started then never dumped in again. high school or college?

Ressa 21:54
Did you ever done

Nieman 21:56
in a game now?

Ressa 22:04
We lost you there for a second. So here’s the question. Yeah. Did we ever teach? Could you ever did you ever talk to

Nieman 22:10
I never dunked in high school?

Ressa 22:14
When did you when did you first like be able to dunk like, you know, in the street or in a, you know, a game when like, when did you What age were you able to replay?

Nieman 22:24
So I was a I was a rising junior and it was the it was in the summer workouts. When I when I dumped first and dumped in some summer league games. But never in an actual high school basketball game.

Ressa 22:40
And was that like a big thing? Like being able to dock like was that like, Was that was that something? Was there a moment in time, but there was a month, six months a year where like, you were like going home and like going out?

Nieman 22:52
I got, no doubt. I mean, especially with some of the athletes that I played with. It was a monumental occasion for me when I when I finally was able to throw one down. That’s for sure.

Ressa 23:06
For sure. Were you the only one in the family?

Nieman 23:10
Yes, my brother’s a little bit taller than me. But he played quarterback in high school. Not much basketball can shoot them, but…

Ressa 23:20
All right. to it. So you’re not in the pickup.

Nieman 23:28
That’s why I am not, no, I played a few times at the LA Fitness when I lived in Atlanta. And I think I got hurt like both times. And I just decided that I probably should hang it up for

Ressa 23:45
so then yeah.

Nieman 23:48
Again, that’s what we’re playing after ICSC just in case. For sure.

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Ressa 24:46
Okay. So so, you know we talked about some of the uses that are hot, you know, food and beverage, alcohol, beauty, fitness, medical or let’s talk about a use we haven’t talked about and bring me to Mount Prospect Illinois where you have a story about golf.

Nieman 25:11
Yeah, so the center is located in Mount Prospect Mount Prospect Illinois, the northwest suburbs of Chicago. at RAND hers village, it used to be called ran Hearst Mall. Want to think one of the first enclosed malls ever built. It was actually built by a famous architect called Victor Gruden was a pioneer in designing shopping malls. In 2010, I think 2012 and converted into an open air lifestyle power center.

DLC, we’ve owned it, I believe, and since 2017, started working on asset and 2021. And much of it functions like a traditional power center on the perimeter. But there is this lifestyle component that we call the boulevard that notoriously we struggled to lease and spacing. And I remember I got a voicemail from a gentleman who said he was a PGA Tour pro at a golf course in Chicago, he’s looking to create an entertainment concept.

Ressa 26:16
Real quick, let’s just back this up, just to give more context. The Boulevard, that little lifestyle. It’s anchored by a hotel on one side. And on the other side is a theater. It’s the intent was to be a pedestrian friendly, not more so than a particular friendly atmosphere.

There’s a little like, kind of like a little courtyard area. And historically, there’s been some turnover in that. And you know, as you mentioned, the power center has always been like, quantify are really strong in this. There’s been some chatter release up. And then some, you know, some tenants that potentially have been, you know, not as successful as we are, they would vote.

Nieman 26:58
Yeah, and the AMC has definitely rebounded. Obviously, it was it struggled during during COVID. If we had Barbie to and the era’s tour playing every weekend, you know, we I’m sure we’d see much more traffic to the boulevard. But given where some of those sales have declined, the restaurants that surrounded it struggled a little bit more in terms of date night, a meal and a movie.

So we’ve we’ve had to get creative. And I think this example is a good one, in terms of how landlords can find ways to lease space to users that might not need the type of visibility that a Chipotle would need, or that even some of the anchor tenants that we do deals with. Would like to see.

Ressa 27:54
So So you get this call from this guy. So what happens next?

Nieman 28:01
Yeah, so he wants to create an entertainment concept focused on golf simulators and food and Bev in his voicemail, he said that he struggled to get called calls back from landlords and so I reached out immediately, I had a good idea of of where we could do a deal subject to what his square footage was. At that time, right? The golf industry came roaring out of COVID.

And you know, the entertainment sector kind of limped along a little bit but in connection with what you were seeing, right I think Tiger and Rory did. Pop shelf Obviously, everyone knows top top golf but Tiger and Rory did started out Pasha pup stroke was a use that they that they had created. And then you start to see some of these other swings, full swing golf simulators like five irons. You saw some of the stuff that’s broke here recently where the golf entertainment category was on trend.

And this was going to be his first location, right? So you always have to work through that and make sure you qualify the tenant. But yeah, he, we were able to negotiate another why he was looking to add or to install 10 TrackMan simulators and TrackMan can allow kids to pick games to improve their to improve their short game, or to help them get off the tee. You can play par three courses you can play at St. Andrews.

And of course, all of the adults have options to join leaves. He offers beer, wine and liquor and he has a pretty good food menu as well. He also installed a putting green in the middle of the space. But yeah, it did. It did take us a while to get that LOI executed.

As we all know, we definitely support entrepreneurs but we want to ensure that they’re going to survive and we were bullish on the concept and just needed to get comfortable with the operator. And we were able to do that And he opened 30 days ago, he said that that the community, he couldn’t have imagined the community community supporting him more than they have. As leagues are full.

Ressa 30:16
Say that again, putting up imagine she got out.

Nieman 30:18
He couldn’t have imagined that community supporting him the way that they have. So his his after school program leagues have taken off, he’s got an adult league that’s rockin and rollin. He has people coming in on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday to play a teen and drink some beer and have a glass of wine and eat some food, especially in Chicago, right when the winter starts to to turn on you.

And it becomes pretty brutal outside. It’s not like here in Charlotte, where you can still go get 18 holes in December. So he’s seen a lot of those leaks book up. And yeah, he’s, he’s, he’s very successful with his build out. And I actually spoke to him the other day. And he said, he’s, he’s rocking, and we couldn’t have been more excited for him.

Ressa 31:08
So he opened 30 days ago. The server, how big is the space that

Nieman 31:19
9000 square feet?

Ressa 31:21
Wow, big space? So when that deal got presented to me, it was I like we’re not gonna understand that was that was ironic this was

Nieman 31:33
I think you might have just got off from playing 18 holes. So you were you might have been a little bit more agreeable than normal with, with 9000 square feet for a first time operator, spending some TI and making sure the HVAC was in GW L. But no, I think he did a great job of saying together a business plan as well, which is what?

Ressa 31:57
So he opened 30 days ago, just to give everyone context like he opened 30 days ago, when was the lease signed? When did we sign this?

Nieman 32:06
Oh, this was signed in middle to late 2022.

Ressa 32:13
All right. So this guy year to open from Lisa. So what took so long to the average listener after that feels like a long time. And, you know, yet as a landlord, you want to get Rex shortly after signing lease what what takes a lot, give us some context, if the listeners demographics, yeah.

Nieman 32:36
Definitely permitting, you can anywhere from 30 to 120 days, MT prospect is great to work with, they’ve been a good partner of ours in terms of making sure that they do some marketing for the new businesses that have opened, but definitely permitting. And then of course, submitting those plans for the permitting. He had some delays. And some of these simulators, as you can imagine that category being so hot, that and people are also putting them in their houses.

And it’s just been, they’ve had to keep up with some of the supply chain issues that a lot of people have faced throughout all of this. And so that was also a little bit of a delay. He didn’t build out a full restaurant. So it wasn’t really the build out. It was more so the time it took from plans to permits to getting his simulators.

Ressa 33:28
Yeah, so we, so you’re talking to the guy, you’re meeting the guy who bought into the concept, you present it to DLCs committee, you get me on board with it. And then we end up going at least with him, so we sign a lease. And then after, after we get the lease sign that he has to draw plans, which that takes some time draws plans, he has to we have to approve those plans, then he has to go and get those plans approved by the municipality to get a building permit that actually do the construction.

All the while cornering is simulators and whatnot, potential supply chain issues. And so unfortunately, it could take like a year for someone in a business like this to get open after a lease sign, which is, you know, very different than like residential when you sign a lease and you can move it in two weeks. Not the same here. So for sure, so 9000 square feet. So this is plan did he have like, What were his number? Where were his revenue projections? Yeah,

Nieman 34:39
I think they were close to like a million million two in the first year. And then they started to creep up to 1.5 to two as time went on, a lot of that revenue was yeah, it’s he’s got separate buckets, right. He’s got his leagues. He’s got his after school program. He’s also he also gives lessons being a pro, he gives lessons as well. So during the wintertime, he provides that option too.

So he had a lot of different ways and sources to build revenue. And so that’s really how I was able to get comfortable with it. And yeah, it was a unique business plan. And I think this is the first one we’ve done in our portfolio. But being on the Boulevard and just kind of blending a lot of the benefits for both parties, it ended up being a good deal.

Ressa 35:32
So he opened 30 years ago. And we’re in October 2003. We own this is making I actually think it was prior to 2017. But I don’t know the exact date specific.

Nieman 35:50
At least for four years. It was a like a furniture design or a home design studio for homeowners to kind of come in and get the whole suite of services to design your house.

Ressa 36:07
It was longer than that. It was longer than that, because it’s been vacant since we owned it.

Nieman 36:11
Yeah. So then we only so you think we were 2015.

Ressa 36:19
We’ve only lived eight years. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So well, that’s amazing. I’m actually going to Chicago in a couple weeks. And I’m gonna get there and go swinging some clubs in the sky space. For sure.

Nieman 36:35
Yeah, I definitely let them know. Brian Hill goes his name’s He’s done a great job. And he would love to have your I’m going to do the same here when I’m traveling next week.

Ressa 36:45
And you said he’s 30 days in is ahead of his plan.

Nieman 36:51
So far, yes. Yep. And we’re only we’re only 30 days in. But he has been been pretty pumped. And I guess like the NBC local golf shows coming out to do a special on them as local.

Ressa 37:04
So that’s great marketing. Good for him smart. Very smart. So let’s, let’s talk about what like leasing people always, you know, tell them senior management in organizations, which is, you know, leasing begets leasing. And so, do we do we think now that this gentleman’s been in a place that’s been his spot of a great senator, that’s been tougher to these next two, he’s right next to the hotel.

I’m sure he’s getting like, some people stayed over at night on a business trip out looking for something to do, they might go in there. I think that’s going to help actually, I think he’s gonna get some of that. Money, but I think he is going to get some of that hotel business crowd. But do you think that this will help other leasing in this part of the Senate? That’s been, you know, Chapter release?

Nieman 38:01
I think it will. We do have an LOI for a coffee concept that we’ve been targeting that that category we’ve been targeting for a while. So I did get that the other day. And I do think that when you have more cars and more traffic being driven when future business owners or entrepreneurs who want to lease space on the Boulevard, see the activity, and just the cars in the parking spots? I think we will, that’s still to be determined. But we do have one LOI that’s working now.

Ressa 38:33
We got to actually next year we got another lease actually two because we had a retailer senators and entrepreneurs do so well. I wanted to open up a different concept over Biden’s golf simulator. So I think leasing begets leasing.

Nieman 38:48
Yeah, no, no, no doubt. And, you know, I do think that but it’ll also be the vulvar also be the product of, of, you know, the totality of all the leasing that we’ve been able to accomplish even before him right. I think we’ve leased like 20,000 square feet on the Boulevard before we sign that lease. He’s just in kind of a further south section of that Boulevard. So we’re excited.

Ressa 39:16
We’re definitely excited. Excellent. All right there. You made it. I mean, like all the stories you told from the boat to your days of trying to dunk to your your deal with a golf factory. I want to take you to the last part of show called retail wisdom. I got three questions for you right. All right, but you want what extinct retailer Do you wish you’d come back from the dead?

Nieman 39:50
Um, probably Sports Authority. I grew up going to Sports Authority with my my dad in Florida, when we lived there and I just have a lot of great memories of us. Going shopping together and trying out equipment and all that good stuff. The first thing that came to mind was blockbuster but I’m going with Sports Authority,

Ressa 40:10
like sports 30 Because blockbuster was far and away the most answered. It’s the most popular answer that question. Obviously the mercury tip, but they still have a little uniqueness. Question two. What’s the last item under $20 that you bought in a store.

Nieman 40:34
I bought some athleisure wear from Dick’s last weekend. Getting ready for the winter.

Ressa 40:41
You live in Charlotte, what do you what do you need? Look,

Nieman 40:45
man, my my blood stain. So I needed a couple of new Nike hoodies and sweatpants. And I bought some

Ressa 40:57
last question. If you’ve been shopping at Target, and I lost you, but I want to find you.

Nieman 41:03
It seems every time I’m going to target I am shopping for my nieces and nephews. So probably the kids section me and my wife end up there quite often. Doing some last minute birthday and Christmas shopping. So

Ressa 41:21
speaking of kids, somebody else expected.

Nieman 41:28
Yep, I got a baby girl on the way. Do you hear in February. So getting ready for fatherhood?

Ressa 41:37
Are you ready?

Nieman 41:39
I’m as ready as I’ll ever be today.

Ressa 41:48
So, as you mentioned, we have a 730 standard call, you know, over two weeks, we, you know, we’ve worked closely together and a lot of things. We’ve had a lot of calls outside of that. And then lastly, you know, to give the listeners a little bit more. What’s What’s something you can tell the listeners about me that they might not know. Oh, man, one of my favorite questions.

Nieman 42:15
Um I feel like they might not know everyone’s aware you’re a wrestler? I guess on topic. Have you told the world? How? How much golf you’ve been playing lately? Have you talked about that much on your show? I don’t think you have.

Ressa 42:40
I had, you know, for everybody. So my whole family gots all my friends golf. Everyone who listened scoffs I was like, the only person in the world that didn’t golf. And it was a it was a COVID pickup. And I decided like, alright, this is the time the moment I gotta start trying this. And I definitely got the golf bug. I’m hooked. I I’m in the world where like, I need to bring my handicap down. And I think I mean, it’s a golf for sure.

Nieman 43:11
Yeah, I mean, the other one that people might not know is I’m not sure if you sleep. How many? Chris how many hours you sleep? Do you get a night? Because I’ve I’ve emailed you at 10 tonight and and gotten an email at three and just was confused at what time did you actually go to sleep? So? So tell the world how many hours you average that night? I think it’s

I would say it’s, it’s inconsistent. I would say the following is that, you know, I’m still in this place where like, you know, I’m trying to be the best father, a husband, I can be and I’m grinding and say that, you know, there’s always one to represent day, there’s probably ways for you to be more efficient.

Sometimes you got to grind when it’s, it’s not fun to grind. So it is. I would say that one of the things that’s happened recently is I am I can get to bed earlier and have a pretty deep sleep. But waking up pretty early. Waking up like like I could do problem. Though the rising tide is no different. No matter what time you go to bed like I couldn’t bet 10 Like, wake up 334 And like can There’s no going back. Yeah, that that’s happening a lot lately.

Exciting, except for on Sundays and Mondays when you got one of your 20 Fantasy Football Leagues rockin and rollin.

Ressa 45:15
Yeah. So that’s, yeah, for sure. Well, let’s, gotcha. Anyway, thanks for doing this great stories really appreciate your time. And I need to you know, I have a pretty good interaction as everyone knows, most people don’t know as I live walking distance to some decent courts. It’s probably not a good training facility for the type of course I’m playing. But I’m going to go shoot some hoops get ready.

Nieman 45:57
Yeah, same for me. That’s for sure.

Ressa 46:03
We’re gonna get, Dan it was great, thanks for doing this.

Nieman 46:07
Yep. Thanks for having me, Chris.

Ressa 46:11
Thank you for listening to Retail Retold. If you want to share a story about a retail real estate deal that you were a part of on our show, please reach out to us at retailretold@dlcmgmt.com This show highlights the stories behind the deals from all perspectives. So it doesn’t matter if you are a retailer, broker, entrepreneur, architect or an attorney Also don’t forget to subscribe to Retail Retold so you don’t miss out on next Thursday’s episode.