A new beginning in Florida

                 Nancy Erickson, who has been among commercial real estate brokerage firm Colliers International’s highest earning retail brokers for her work in the New York and New Jersey areas, has relocated to work out of the company’s Tampa office.

                The executive managing director of retail services has been with Colliers International since 2016, and has more than a quarter century of experience working with retail landlords and tenants such as Benihana, Speedway, AT&T, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Madison Reed, IHOP and Kiddie Academy, among others.

                “I like taking things from start to finish, and retail brokerage allows me to do that,” says Erickson, who decided to relocate to Florida from Colliers International’s Parsippany, N.J., office after her husband accepted a job in the state and she had done work with the firm’s Tampa’s operation.

                “I have a lot of national assignments that sometimes put me on a plane and take me away for four or five days at a time,” adds Erickson, who also is an avid golfer. “So I’m not state based. I still have assignments, for instance, in the New York and New Jersey area. It’s more about knowing what’s happening throughout the industry. Colliers has really gone out of its way to make this as seamless as possible for me, though.”

                Erickson, who worked for rival Cushman & Wakefield for a dozen years beginning in 2004, becomes the latest in a series of high-profile agents to have gravitated to Colliers International Tampa Bay, Central and Southwest Florida over the past year, a list that includes investment sales specialist Paul Carr; office brokers Brandon Stoneburner and Mike Ciccarello; and retail expert Erica Waltermire.

                “Her extensive experience and knowledge will be of tremendous benefit to Colliers in Florida,” says Danny Rice, managing director of the company’s Tampa Bay, Central and Southwest Florida operations.

                As part of her brokerage activities, Erickson has participated in hundreds of store rollouts, lease negotiations, rent restructurings and property dispositions.

                “Her knowledge of markets nationally, teaming partnerships and developer relationships around the country are exemplary,” says Beth Stute, the head of development and real estate at restaurant chain Benihana Inc., the Japanese-style restaurant chain based in Aventura.

                “She has been much more like a partner, not just a broker,” Stute adds.

                Erickson’s skills may be more valuable than ever going forward, as the retail industry struggles with decreased sales and store closures stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. Most recently, last week fast-casual eatery Steak N’ Shake announced it would permanently shutter more than 50 stores as a result of the toll the virus has taken on its locations.

                Erickson acknowledges that in the short term, at least, the pandemic will have a significant negative impact on the industry in the form of foreclosures and bankruptcies. The crisis also could push more merchants to embrace omni-channel sales platforms like never before.

                “It’s possible that 20% to 30% of all U.S. restaurants could close over the next six months,” she says.

                But she also expects that pent-up demand will push consumers back into retail locations if or when the virus’ outbreak is contained.

                “The customer experience may change, stores and restaurants may look different, but people will still want to touch and feel merchandise and still want to go out to dinner,” Erickson says.

                She admits, though, that it may take years before many retailers – save for grocers, shoe stores, hardware chains and fitness centers, all of which continue to add locations – will begin to think about expansion again.

                “Right now, they’re not looking for income, they just want to stay alive to see if they can move forward,” says Erickson, who began her career with an engineering firm in New York and then worked for Tishman Realty in the city, as well.

                “A lot of companies will have to clean out their portfolios of poorer performing locations,” she says.

                To assist in that task and to help in landing larger assignments nationwide, Erickson eventually plans to put together a team of agents, mostly senior brokers, as she did while working for the brokerage in New York and New Jersey.

                “That’s the goal,” she says.

                For now, though, she is settling into her new state and studying the retail landscape in Florida, keeping tabs on how COVID-19 is affecting merchants and landlords alike and formulating plans for how retail can recover post-crisis.

                “We’ll come out of this in time,” she says. “And retail, maybe a lot of things, will be different going forward. But we just have to keep going.”