Welcome to Melaniphy & Associates, Inc.

Melaniphy & Associates, Inc. is a firm of shopping center consultants, real estate counselors, site selection specialists, market analysts, retail experts, restaurant consultants, and international investment advisors, Melaniphy & Associates, Inc. has successfully advised thousands of national and international clients in both the private and public sectors for more than 50 years. We have advised mall owners around the country om how to revitalize their blighted mall properties. Melaniphy & Associates celebrated our 50-year anniversary in 2021. Melaniphy & Associates, Inc. was founded in 1971. We specialize in a variety of products including the following:

Shopping Center Market Feasibility Studies
Highest & Best Use Analyses
Restaurant Market Feasibility Analysis
Economic Impact Studies
Commercial Revitalization Strategies
Downtown Redevelopment
Sales Cannibalization Analyses
Comprehensive Site Selection Strategies
Regional Mall Redevelopment Programs
Lifestyle Center Development
Industrial Market Studies
Sports Stadium Impact Studies
Hotel Market Studies

John C. Melaniphy, company founder, has been a real estate economist and market analyst for over 50 years. During this time, he has been involved in almost every type of urban and suburban development and redevelopment problem and opportunity... Read more

THE MALL'S DILEMMA: RISING VACANCY RATES AND FLAT PERCENTAGE RENTAL OVERAGES

Originally published in Shopping Center Business, October 1997
Over the past two years, I have become very much aware of rising vacancy and flat percentage rental overages in major malls. I am not alone. Many insurance companies, REITS. investment trusts, and other shopping center landlords are experiencing the same. The sameness and boring nature of many malls has seen a decline in customer attraction and sales resulting in slipping occupancy. Fortunately, not all are fully affected. Well-located dominant malls with strong department and specialty store tenants generally are experiencing firm rents and mixed percentage rental overages increases. Furthermore, it appears that leasing representatives are working harder and more creatively to keep occupancy levels up.
 

EXAMPLES OF CONVENTIONAL AND UNCONVENTIONAL MALL SOLUTIONS

 In the February, 1998 issue of Shopping Center Business, I presented an article that addressed conventional and unconventional solutions to mall problems. This article is, in a way, a sequel.
 
The objective of this article is to discuss some examples of conventional and unconventional actions taken by shopping center owners and developers to address mall problems.  There are numerous examples throughout North America of conventional solutions. However, there are far fewer examples of successful unconventional fixes. 
 

FINDING SOLUTIONS FOR TODAY'S PROBLEM SHOPPING CENTERS

Originally published in Shopping Center Business
 
Today, with many major malls and community shopping centers owned by insurance companies, pension funds, foundations, institutions and foreigners, the current real estate depression is causing a new kind of consternation.  Up until recently, ownership meant increasing income, full occupancy, strong department stores, and rising values; a gold-platted investment. 
 
Leveraged buyouts of department stores, in the later '80s; a major recession, significant overbuilding, the savings and loan disaster and consumer frugality, resulted in significant problems to the industry.  These problems are reflected in lower occupancy, declining overage rentals, store failures, slower rent payments, vacant department stores, and most importantly, lower real estate values.  Where have all those guarantees, foreign buyers and rosy computer-generated income projections gone?

THE PRINCIPLES OF PIZZA RESTAURANT LOCATION SELECTION

Over the years of reviewing and selecting restaurant locations, it has became obvious that the industry needed a generalized set of guidelines regarding location selection. Thus, in 1992, my book entitled, Restaurant & Fast Food Site Selection, was published.  Furthermore, my latest book entitled,The Restaurant Location Guidebook, published in 2007 amplifies the need for these guidelines. Interestingly, there is a feeling in many parts of the country that dining is a very personal thing, and therefore taste can overcome a secondary location.

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