Coronavirus economy: Santana Row owner launches contact-less store pickups, says rent payments slow
SAN JOSE — The owner of San Jose’s Santana Row complex, jolted by a sharp slowdown in rent payments and shopper visits, has launched a new contact-less venture at its retail and restaurant centers throughout the Bay Area, a move to encourage commerce amid the coronavirus.
“We have launched The Pick-Up, a curbside, contactless exchange which creates a singular, reliable, centralized service that retailers and restaurants of all sizes can take advantage of,” Federal Realty said in a recent earnings statement.
Federal Realty, the principal owner of Santana Row and several other high-profile centers in the Bay Area and nationwide, also says that it has collected about 45 percent of the rent owned during April by its tenants nationwide, a clear example of the economic fallout that the deadly bug has spawned.
“With very few exceptions, our leases require tenants to continue to pay rent even while closed as a result of the pandemic,” Federal Realty said in a quarterly financial filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. “Most rents for March 2020 were paid prior to the time the closures were announced. However, many tenants did not pay rents and other charges due in April.”
During April, Federal Realty rental collection rates were 27 percent for restaurants, 16 percent for full-price apparel tenants, 14 percent for its houseware and furnishings tenants, 13 percent for tenants that provide unique experiences, and 5 percent for fitness tenants.
The figures reflect the aggregate for all of the real estate firm’s properties nationwide. The Santana Row performance wasn’t broken out.
However, Federal Realty did say that construction has been temporarily halted at its big new office building in the Santana West tech campus across the street from Santana Row. That building totals 360,000 square feet.
The real estate firm launched its new contactless pickup service at numerous centers nationwide, including several in the Bay Area,.
Besides Santana Row, the new service was instituted at East Bay Bridge center in Emeryville, Old Town Los Gatos, Kings Court in Los Gatos, Westgate Center in San Jose, and San Antonio Center in Mountain View, Federal Realty said.
At Santana Row, drivers can pull into a numbered stall to pick up retail products or restaurant items they have ordered.
“The Pick-Up gives us an enhanced ability to focus on the details for our customers, giving them a complete and personalized experience from the moment we suggest our featured plates via our ordering methods or via phone, to the moment we hand the customer their order,” said Ivan Alarcon, a manager at Zazil Cocina Mexicana in Santana Row.