SmartCentres

REITs are turning dead JCPenney pads into apartments at rock-bottom rates

Segal points to Canadian REIT SmartCentres, which owns Walmart-anchored real estate. As 1990s clothing brands die off, they replace a dead JCPenney-type pad with multi-unit residential or senior housing, extracting huge land value while interest rates are low and inflation looms.

“So they're taking this pad where they had some crappy JCPenney type brand, and they're building a multi-unit residential apartment building or a senior's home. They're getting enormous value out of the land and even bigger returns.”