With outlet centres now one of the hottest sectors of commercial real estate in Canada, Avison Young has added two specialists in the area as principals—Lisa Quier Wagner and David Hinkle—to focus on outlet centre strategic direction, marketing and management, as well as providing leading guidance and tenant advisory expertise. (We need to hire someone to help us stay out of the outlet stores before our credit card melts.) In an interview with Bisnow, Lisa and David—with a combined 50 years of commercial real estate experience—both acknowledged the growth potential for more outlet centres across Canada, but Vancouver has its challenges.
“It is difficult to acquire land at a price that works for outlet,” Lisa says. Her former firm, McArthurGlen, is building an outlet centre next to Vancouver Airport. There is an opportunity for another site, closer to Whistler. “Tourism-oriented sites [geared more at vacationing customers] have been very successful outlet projects,” she says. Lisa and David most recently served as partners of the US-based Outlet Resource Group, a specialty retail consultancy firm, which they co-owned and co-founded. Both say through the years they have acquired extensive knowledge of how the outlet industry has evolved in Canada. The industry is “really starting its maturation process,” Lisa says.
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