By Patrick Caroleo: Trends in retail real estate are changing! Are you? Items property owners should consider

The industry at large is taking on new approaches never witnessed "in time past." Keeping retail shopping centers clean and orderly is of utmost important for the new day we are experiencing. Landlords are no longer just accommodating pizzeria, hair salon and chinese take-out tenancies. Even in a downward spiraling economy your average consumer today is concerned about what they consume and purchase. Smart business entrepreneurs are adopting higher standards of healthy foods that appeal to the most discriminating consumers. New businesses that are arising are marketing to a new consumer. ICSC: International Council of Shopping Centers of Las Vegas, witnessing many new businesses being launched, are leading towards healthy "green friendly concepts and ideas. For instance, Red Mango Yogurt franchises are taking the country by storm. In my opinion, consumers are willing to pay more deposable income for healthy products. The visibility for any shopping center is imperative and retail shopping centers should be relatively close to the main roadway. The ingress and egress with a traffic light with a turn in lane into shopping centers makes a difference. The ease of finding a parking stall, especially a handicap parking stall is an important factor. Large overgrown shrubbery blocking numerous store- fronts is a recipe for failure. Location and visibility are two strong influences that make a shopping center successful. There are some remedies if a shopping center is hidden from the main roadway, such as enhanced lighting. Lighting is not only crucial for security and safety purposes, but enhanced lighting can give a noticeable edge that can make a shopping center stand out above the rest. Illuminated décor canopy, creating a new roof line can transform your shopping center from a "C" rating into an upbeat "A" rating. A new pylon sign with municipality approval can make an impact on retail shopping centers. Successful shopping centers are now adopting a place where patrons can sit and enjoy their meals with well-landscaped grounds with water features, this sets the atmosphere where patrons actually enjoy each other and create a community culture. Patrons will revisit their experience not just your shopping center. Keeping your common area maintenance expenses to a bare minimum can make a significant difference. For instance tenant's profit margin will be increased, granting each tenant the ability to be competitive in their industry. Landlords that over-spend and do not have a budget in mind because the tenants are paying its proportionate of share of expenses are shooting themselves in the foot. Overcharging tenants customarily acceptable common area maintenance charges you are putting your tenants out of business which is counterproductive for the landlords. Landlords and property managers are always to be good stewards of all incurred expenses for all parties' concern. In doing so, more than likely the retail shopping centers will operate successfully. As a property manager when it comes to insurance coverage this is one expense not to compromise. For example, many new policies are omitting "wind coverage" from their policies, keeping their expenses competitive, but not servicing their customers adequately. Tropical storm Irene could have been a catastrophic disaster, causing building wreckage thoughout Long Island and surrounding areas and not possessing coverage for wind could have been a catastrophic event with a financial negative impact, losing thousands and thousands of dollars. When ascertaining insurance quotes from various brokers you must ask the right questions. Insurance language, terms and conditions are being revised constantly and the most discriminate landlords and property managers may be outwitted, not having adequate coverage. In my professional opinion, an attorney might be best suitable to review all insurance policies to avoid any pitfalls. After tropical storm Irene, I was speaking to a successful property owner that owned properties in a flood zone area and he experience flooding all around his building, whereby landscape was destroyed, fountains, storage buildings and various other damage and to his surprise flood insurance solely covered the primary footprint of building, the actual foundation and structure of building. Other structures for storage and anything else outside of primary building that was damaged as a result of flood were not covered. Should you have a story to share as a result of insurance companies, please send me an e-mail, I would like to be further informed and avoid some of the apparent pitfalls. "It is more important than ever to understand exactly what you are buying when you purchase an insurance policy for your building," said insurance broker John Ankelman of JGA Coverage Corp/Industrial Coverage in Patchogue, N.Y. "All policies are definitely not created equal. It is likely there will be various possible deductibles that apply to any given policy." Patrick Caroleo is president and CEO at The Dove Organization, Ltd, Ronkonkoma, N.Y.