Urban Edge: How Smart Retail Portfolios Are Built Today

Why It Matters

Urban Edge’s blend of experiential retail, strategic renovations, and residential integration demonstrates a scalable blueprint for REITs to generate superior yields while future‑proofing shopping centers against shifting consumer habits.

Key Takeaways

• Urban Edge blends grocery, power, and lifestyle tenants for holistic experience.
• Renovations at Bergen Town Center focus on dining and community amenities.
• Portfolio yields average 14% on renovation projects, targeting 13‑16% range.
• Adding residential units to retail sites drives foot traffic and rent growth.
• Value‑add strategies include densification, ancillary revenue, and micro‑format food concepts.

Summary

The interview with Urban Edge COO Jeff Mooallem centers on how the REIT constructs modern retail portfolios, using the recent overhaul of Bergen Town Center in Paramus, New Jersey as a flagship example. The discussion highlights the company’s philosophy of mixing grocery anchors, power‑center retailers, and lifestyle amenities to create a destination that feels both practical and experiential for shoppers.

Mooallem explains that the renovation emphasized new dining concepts—Capon’s Burgers, Tate Bakery, and Tommy’s Tappin Tavern—while preserving essential anchors like Whole Foods and Target. He notes that such tenant curation, combined with thoughtful lighting and signage, drives higher sales and justifies capital outlays. Urban Edge reports an average 14% internal rate of return on recent renovation spend, aiming for 13‑16% yields across a $170 million development pipeline.

Key examples illustrate the “art versus science” balance: converting an underperforming REI building into a 460‑unit residential project that will feed foot traffic into the center, and leveraging micro‑format coffee kiosks on small outparcels for ancillary revenue. Mooallem stresses that successful projects require cross‑functional teams, external designers, and rigorous investment‑committee analysis to ensure both short‑term returns and long‑term community value.

For investors and developers, Urban Edge’s model underscores that retail assets now demand continuous, experience‑driven upgrades and mixed‑use integration to stay competitive. By treating shopping centers as community hubs rather than pure transaction points, the firm positions itself to capture higher yields, sustain tenant loyalty, and adapt to evolving consumer preferences.

Original Description

Urban Edge: How Smart Retail Portfolios Are Built Today

In this episode of Commercial Real Estate Now, Karly Iacono sits down with Jeff Mooallem, the COO of Urban Edge Properties, to unpack how one of the most active retail owners is thinking about value creation, risk, and long-term resilience in today’s market.

Jeff shares how Urban Edge approaches retail ownership and development, his role in shaping portfolio-wide strategy, and the real-world lessons that have changed how they underwrite and execute projects over time.

This is a practical, ground-level conversation that covers:

• What most investors misunderstand about how retail creates value today

• How landlord-tenant leverage is actually playing out post-pandemic

• Lessons learned from projects that didn’t go as planned and how they reshaped strategy

• Where shop tenants are feeling pressure and where pricing power still exists

• Why “time” has become one of the most important underwriting variables

• Which tenant categories they’re most bullish on heading into 2026

If you invest in, operate, lease, or finance retail real estate, this episode offers a clear look at how experienced owners are adapting and where future opportunity is actually coming from.

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🎯 Who This Episode Is For

• Retail real estate investors & owners

• REIT professionals and asset managers

• Developers underwriting value-add retail

• Leasing and capital markets executives

• Anyone focused on future-proofing retail portfolios

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#CommercialRealEstate

#RetailRealEstate

#CREInvesting

#RealEstatePodcast

#RetailLandlords

#REITs

#InvestmentRealEstate

#CapitalMarkets

#UrbanEdge

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