11A – Idea Napkin No. 1

I have grown up in a real estate family, since a young age I had always been intrigued by the concept of real estate and all that goes along with it. As well with real estate I had also always been business minded. With the concept of Lifestyle Centers, I see this as undertaking a giant project. From the syndication of investors into the project, to the development and construction of one itself it can take place over the course of 3-5 years. This idea would definitely function as a career rather than a “side hustle.” 

The development of these centers over traditional malls will provide customers with a commonplace to live, work, and play and accommodate to what traditional malls cannot. 

The lifestyle centers will be prevalent to middle to upper class everyday Americans. This includes any person that currently goes to a gym, lives in an apartment building ranging from $1000-$3500 a month, and any person in the surrounding area that the center is constructed. 

There are two “customers” with this idea. The Tenants and customers. 

Although in reality this is a “chicken before the egg” hypothesis, in theory it will demonstrate to explain far better. 

The customers of lifestyle centers will be visiting them in place of what traditional malls once stood for them. Leaving people with no more commonplace they will be delighted to have a new place to shop and participate is leisure activities. Some may choose to live in these places as they will have many places to work and play. 

Although the centers are geared toward customer enjoyment, the reason this is, is to make tenants of the center want to be here. 

Tenants will want to take space in these developments that people will constantly be. With many retailers closing down stores in traditional malls because of dying foot traffic and commerce growth, these centers will serve to fix this for them. 

This benefits both sides, by offering a great place to live, work, and play for consumers. At the same time offering money making opportunities to tenants. 

The core competencies that are displayed may not be different from many others, however, with the growing amount of traditional malls that are failing there are more and more opportunities to establish these centers in different areas that need fit. The difference will be the investors that are on the team of development to make this idea turn to a reality. The barrier to entry of this business is solely based on capital and the right development team. 

Although there are some competencies that will help shape the developments there are many barriers to make it a reality such as the capital aspect. As a concept and offering to customers I feel that the idea makes sense. Although an idea is only a good one when put into action. The challenging part about this concept will be following through with the development of it. There will be many barriers such as acquiring the land or mall at the right time, city approvals of the redevelopment, acquiring construction loans for the project, locking up LOI’s (letter of intents) from potential tenants, and locking up calculated risk from investors. Although there are many hurdles that face the idea and project these can all be done giving the right leadership. Despite only being 20 years old with the right team there is no reason this idea could not be a reality.