Al Urbanski

Real Estate Editor & Manager

Author Profile

Al Urbanski is the real estate editor of Chain Store Age. He has covered CSA’s retail real estate beat since he joined the brand in 2016.

Al is a veteran of the retail and and consumer products marketing industry, with more than 30 years of reporting experience. Over the course of his career, he served as the chief editor for a variety of publications, including Sales & Marketing Management, Food & Beverage Marketing, Promo and others.

Al is a graduate of Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications.

Connect with Al on LinkedIn.

ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR

8/3/2020
Mall of America to re-open theme park next week
Triple Five will soon get the roller coasters rolling and the cash registers ringing to re-energize Mall of America, though at a much slower pace than usual.

Al Urbanski
8/3/2020
5Qs for Matt Soffair on how the UK’s coping with COVID-19
We had the chance to speak with Legal & General Investment Management's retail research manager, Matt Soffair, to find out how the crisis has altered the course of retail there.

Al Urbanski
8/2/2020
The Top 10 COMEBACK Retail Center Experiences: No. 7 Assembly Row
Sunflowers have sprung up all around the streets of Assembly Row, located in Somerville, Mass. — in shop windows, on sidewalk signage, billboards, bathroom doors, hand sanitizers, and automatic parking lot gates.

Al Urbanski
8/2/2020
Plunge in retail rents continue on Fifth Avenue and other luxury shopping sites
Average asking rents along 16 high-yield retail corridors in Manhattan were $688 per square foot during the quarter ending on June 30.

Al Urbanski
7/30/2020
The Top 10 COMEBACK Retail Center Experiences: No. 6 MainPlace
“We’re thrilled to see you,” shouted signage to guests returning to MainPlace, in Santa Ana, Calif., and most of them had heard or seen similarly toned messages placed by the mall’s owner Centennial on ads and billboards and social media.

Al Urbanski
7/30/2020
Brixmor acquisitions exec moves to ShopOne
Chris Reed, VP of acquisitions and development for Brixmor since 2015, has moved to the ShopOne Centers REIT to perform much the same role.

Al Urbanski
7/29/2020
Streets of St. Charles adds to restaurant lineup
In 1989, when Tony and Kathy Pietoso left St. Charles, Mo., to open a white table cloth Italian restaurant called Café Napoli in Clayton, Mo., the top eatery in St. Charles was a place called Noah’s Ark, which looked like the famed boat and was surrounded by fiberglass animals.

Al Urbanski
7/29/2020
The Top 10 COMEBACK Retail Center Experiences: No. 5 The Avenue East Cobb
Poag Shopping Centers CEO Josh Poag said his company’s dealings with what he calls “The Great Accelerator” focused first on his team and on his tenants.

Al Urbanski
7/28/2020
2020’s Top 10 COMEBACK Retail Center Experiences: Nos. 1 thru 5
These Top 5 COMEBACK Retail Center Experiences are now busy re-engaging their visitors with each other as well as retail.

Al Urbanski
7/28/2020
ICSC rolls 2020 Deal Making events into one virtual conference: RECon New York
Citing increases in cases of COVID-19 in states such as Arizona and Florida, the International Council of Shopping Centers has cancelled the rest of its 2020 Deal Making conferences and will instead host one virtual conference called RECon New York.

Al Urbanski