By Ian Pierce, vice president of communications, Weitzman
Our Texas team just returned from the ICSC New York National Deal Making Conference (Dec. 5-Dec. 6) with queries to follow up on and packages and proposal letters to send out.
The show offered the added bonus of a visit to New York City brilliantly lit for Christmastime, but Texas proved to be just as alluring to the retail pros in attendance.
This year’s New York City conference attracted a record attendance of more than 10,000 to the Javits Center. Given the show’s location, it’s only natural East Coast firms dominated the exhibitor list.
But our Weitzman booth, with its prominent Texas branding, was as busy as anyone’s. Even if some walk-ins didn’t know Weitzman, they understood Texas. They wanted hard details on investment properties, retail locations for expanding brands, or simply information on the state’s retail markets -- the kind of details that only a Texas-based firm can offer.
Our project leasing agents also held dozens of meetings with national retailers looking for Texas locations, and the face-to-face helped push pending deals closer to completion.
Taking a team from D-FW, Austin, Houston and San Antonio all the way to New York for a trade show is an expensive proposition. But every one of our brokers, asset managers and property managers will tell you it was worth every penny and then some.
