Hospitality

The high-profile president and COO of Focus Brands is stepping down.

The tide of restaurant closures and bankruptcies continues to rise amid the pandemic.

Through the pandemic and a Chapter 11 restructuring, one of the nation’s largest owners of regional malls reports that it put tenants in 1.4 million sq. ft. of newly leased space as it attempts to transform its portfolio into suburban town centers.

For years, Phillips Edison’s national accounts and emerging trends team has been doggedly cataloging new trends in its neighborhood retail centers, but not as dogged as during COVID-plagued 2020.

The 2020 pandemic wore hard on American retail centers. They are now all trying to re-invent themselves as entertainment and dining centers.

The CFO who was made president of Howard Hughes Corporation and continued in both those roles while serving as interim CEO has now been formally invested with the top job.