Property managers act as liaisons for landlords, tenants

The Covid-19 pandemic forced many businesses — especially non-essential office, retail and restaurant tenants — to close last year, but commercial property managers stayed on the job, ensuring properties were properly cleaned and secured and acting as a liaison between landlords and tenants facing an unprecedented economic crisis.

It was the job of the property managers to secure vacant spaces and make sure the now familiar hand sanitizing stations and social distancing signs and floor decals were installed in shopping centers and common areas. They also had to make sure tenants were complying with state and county rules.

“It was very impressive how fast all of our tenants reacted to social distancing and the need to make customers feel comfortable and safe to bring them back to the shopping centers,” said Paul Chase, executive vice president of agency leasing for JLL, who oversees the enclosed and open-air shopping centers JLL handles in Hawaii, including Windward Mall and Ka Makana Alii on Oahu, Maui Marketplace and Maui Mall, and Kukui Grove Center on Kauai.

While cleaning at those malls is outsourced, the property managers were responsible for working with the cleaning crews to make sure surfaces throughout the shopping centers, including handrails, escalators and elevators are cleaned with more frequency, as well as increasing the number of touchless surfaces customers might encounter, he said.

They also had to remove seating in the malls, and close food courts — although Windward Mall found a solution to food court seating by opening the shuttered Sears space as a socially distanced dining area.

“The managers will obviously make the experience of the shopping center comfortable, safe, pleasant, unique,” he said as part of overseeing operations and marketing.

For example, the McCully Shopping Center is undergoing a complete renovation, while Koko Marina Shopping Center had solar photovoltaic panels installed, said Nora Bland, senior vice president of Sofos Realty Corp. In addition to shopping centers, Sofos also manages industrial properties, whose tenants have fared better during the pandemic.

As the liaison between landlords and tenants, property managers were also in the middle of discussions about rent relief.

“We’ve had thousands of conversations with thousands of tenants,” Chase said. “Nationally, it’s something that, right when shopping centers started to close down, we worked with all the tenants … each tenant was different, understanding their particular situation, what type of use they were.”

Bland said communication — in particular, talking to landlords and tenants — became more crucial as tenants who held on last year and were able to pay rent are now running out of options.

“We’re asking landlords and tenants to be more sympathetic to each other,” Bland said, adding that her team has helped to stress the importance of at least paying operating expenses to keep utilities, including air conditioning, running, even if tenants are having a hard time paying rent.

“We have to work together to survive this thing,” Bland said. “It’s a reboot to the entire economic system and we’ve got the learn how to be creative, be genuine, be transparent.”

Both Bland and Chase are optimistic business will begin to pick up this year, as Covid case counts decline and vaccinations increase.

“Once people are comfortable getting back into the centers – we’re going to be much better off as an industry, once things return to normal,” Chase said. “The shopping experience is going to be better in store and online; the customers are going to have the opportunity to do what’s most convenient for them.”