Main Street 'Amazoned' into Miasma: ...But professional commercial realtors see expeditious planning and execution as key to avoiding blight and preserving property values: Main Streets are mean streets and Malls are meandering with lower market shares these days.

A June report from Credit Suisse estimates that between 20% and 25% of the nation's shopping malls will close in the next five years as shoppers' habits continue to shift from in-store to online buying. Traditional mall anchors such as Macy's, J.C. Penney, and Sears have announced widespread store closings in recent months, and a number of niche clothiers like American Apparel and BCBG Max Azria have filed for bankruptcy. The report estimates that around 8,640 stores will close by the end of the year. These problems will be particularly acute in retail-intensive areas like shopping streets and malls, the report states.

"It's now a known and accepted fact that online shopping has changed both the presence and the form of bricks-and-mortar retail outlets in the United States-including Florida--and it will continue to do so," says Brian Andrus, President of the Florida Gulfcoast Commercial Association of Realtors (www.fgcar.org/) "Property owners and municipalities should not be caught asleep at the wheel. There are developers, entrepreneurs and municipalities today who can engage with the vast talent inherent in the commercial real estate professional community in Tampa Bay to take action." He continues to explain that it is negligent to do otherwise and thereby inherit the inevitable shuttered stores, vacant buildings and sites that can become blight and result in the decline of the physical asset's value, as well as that of property values. Brian Andrus operates a brokerage in Clearwater and is a licensed real estate broker in both California and Florida, having also earned the CCIM (Certified Commercial Investment Member) and the ALC (Accredited Land Consultant) accreditations (both volume transactions of commercial properties and land).

A spokesman for a New York investment group, who asked to be unnamed for this article, laid the problem on the doorstep of the State house, saying: "New York's taxes, minimum wage expenses, its cost of benefits and mandates, its sales tax, and all of the red tape required to operate here give retailers nothing more than reasons to either close, use robots, consolidate or just shut down and leave. The retail sector needs help to hold its own and to sustain New York's Main Streets and Commercial rental vitality."

It is widely known that the closing of mall anchors like Macy's and Sears has a ripple effect. Once a department store goes vacant, life can become extremely difficult for middle-mall retailers like...