Retail & Shopping Center Appraisals

Retail properties range from street retail and single-tenant pads to strip, neighborhood and community centers, power and lifestyle centers, outlet centers and regional malls. Their value depends on the tenants, the leases and how well the center draws shoppers.

Vanguard Realty Advisors appraises retail properties and shopping centers throughout Southern California, with work led by MAI-designated appraisers.

When You Need a Retail Appraisal

• Settling an estate or trust (date-of-death or retrospective value)
• Purchase, construction, refinance and SBA loans
• Buying, selling or a 1031 exchange
• Partnership buyouts, divorce and litigation
• Property tax assessment appeals

Shopping Center Types We Appraise

• Strip and convenience centers: small open-air centers with service and convenience tenants.
• Neighborhood and community centers: centers anchored by grocery, drug or discount stores.
• Lifestyle centers: open-air, upscale “main street” centers with specialty retail, restaurants and entertainment, often 300,000 square feet or more and usually without traditional anchors.
• Outlet centers: manufacturer and off-price stores, typically 50,000 to 500,000 square feet, in strip, enclosed or village layouts, often in tourist or highway locations.
• Regional malls: centers built around one or more full-line department stores, typically 400,000 square feet and ranging from about 300,000 to over 1,000,000 square feet.
• Super-regional centers: malls over 750,000 square feet with three or more department stores.

What Drives Retail Value

• Anchor and shop tenants, tenant mix and credit
• Lease terms, rents, percentage rent and expense recoveries
• Occupancy and in-place rents compared with market
• Traffic counts, visibility, access and parking
• Co-tenancy clauses and anchor dark-store risk
• Pad sites and redevelopment potential

How We Appraise Retail Properties & Shopping Centers

We analyze the rent roll and leases, survey competing centers for market rents and vacancy, and develop the income approach supported by sales of comparable retail properties. For larger centers we use a discounted cash flow to account for lease expirations and re-leasing.

Common Questions

Do you appraise shopping centers with vacant anchor space?

Yes. We analyze the effect of a vacant or “dark” anchor on traffic, co-tenancy clauses and rents, and the cost and time to re-tenant the space.

Do you appraise single-tenant retail buildings?

Yes. See our pages on freestanding retail and net-leased properties.

Related property types: Freestanding Retail · Big Box Stores · Net Lease (NNN) · Office Buildings