At RECon, recovery was in the air and deals were being made

saw, we REConquered. The global retail real estate industry has returned from the ICSC's RECon 2010, the largest gathering of our business in the world, and the news was very good. Recovery is in the air, and serious deals were being made. While a family emergency kept me from the conference at the last minute, my team reports a conference dominated by a focus on leasing and a palpable sense of relief that the worst is over. New development is still slow at best, so owners and landlords are concentrating on maximizing the value of their existing assets. With the number of new chains looking to grow, and existing companies testing new formats, retail centers and districts around the country should be busy! ICSC's sessions were filled with professionals seeking to learn about the new, whether it was building codes, green development or new retailers. I'm proud to say that my own baby, the Women in Retail Real Estate (not the trade group of the same name, by the way) Special Interest Group drew more than 100 attendees sitting in on discussions of: New Techniques in Negotiation (led by my co-organizer, Jane Snoddy Smith of Fulbright & Jaworski); Mentors - How to Find One, How to Be One, led by Barbara Champoux of Crowell & Moring; The Importance of Networking, led by Debra Cole of AREW and Perkins + Will; Building Your Personal Brand, by Beth Silverman of ShopTheJobs.com Inc.; and New Retailers and Globalization, discussed by my partner Joseph Aquino, executive VP of Prudential Douglas Elliman, who filled in for me flawlessly. ICSC and I are planning to hold these special sessions at a number of its regional meetings through the rest of the year, including Boston in July, San Diego in September and the big New York Deal Making in December. So watch this space for more details. We're determined to shatter the glass ceiling once and for all, and to give women in our industry the means and tools to do so! Joe's roundtable was particularly timely, as the industry focused on retailers. Among the new retailers coming to New York (and thus North America) from around the globe are: Kusmi Tea, coming to 1037 Third Ave. from India. Kimaya will open this summer at 717 Madison Ave., with Brazil's Track & Field operating nicely a few blocks north on Madison. Brazil and Portugal also will be represented by The Best Chocolate Cake in the World downtown. TopShop continues to look for new sites in the city and elsewhere. Japan's Uniqlo is opening a giant store at 666 Fifth Ave. And Boston has become a veritable test market for British chains, including Hotel Chocolat and Ted Baker. Other home-grown chains are expanding, some in New York City, others in more typical suburban settings. J.Crew just opened its bridal store at Rockefeller Center, and Urban Outfitters also is getting into this old, but new business. The Gap is expanding Athleta, a more affordable competitor to lululemon. Best Buy Mobile could open up to 1,000 stores nationwide. PS by Aeropostale has opened units in and around the metro area, and loo for Crazy 8 from Gymboree to continue to grow. Neiman Marcus is testing a discount concept. Keeping with the theme of the new, ICSC once again honored five "Hot Retailers" at its concluding lunch on Tuesday: Charming Charlie, an accessories retailer from Houston; Edible Arrangements, which puts a new spin on a food gift basket; Flip Flop Shops, a shoe retailer from Atlanta; an organic grocer named Sunflower Farmers Markets; and men's hair salon Too Hotties. Any of these could become the dominant chains of the not-too-distant future! But now that the blisters are healing (the show may have consolidated, but everyone still walked a lot), the hard work really begins-the follow-up on the contacts made and the negotiations to put the right retailer in the right space. But after this year's RECon, I'm more confident than ever that the industry is on the right track. Faith Hope Consolo is the chairman of Prudential Douglas Elliman's Retail Group, New York, N.Y.