What Some See In Lakewood - Absentee Landlord Does It Again!

[Jim O'Bryan]

Lakewood has been under attack for about two years from an absentee landlord that
usually underlines, why people do not like absentee landlords. This times he calls for
more burger and fries places in Lakewood. So that he can make money.

However, he keeps writing for the New York Times Sunday Edition, and that means...

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/30/opinion/sunday/main-street-blues.html?_r=0


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[Jerry Ritcey]

Yeah, business ideas that have to pass muster of a person who doesn't live here. Who knows how many interesting ideas have gone elsewhere due to people like this?

I imagine someone proposing a restaurant that only makes grilled cheese sandwiches would have been rejected by the columnist as well for being too "weird" to succeed.

[michael gill]

I know that guy a little bit. A lot of us do. I like his writing. I like his band. He probably wouldn't recognize me on the street.

The key here is that he owns "storefronts." He's looking for tenants. He's not looking for people to demolish his old mixed use buildings to put up the likes of McDonalds or Rite Aid or CVS, or dollar stores. He's looking for storefront tenants.

He's marketing and maintaining those buildings in a way entirely different from someone who just wants to maximize his bottom line.

You may also know his tenants include re-sale shops, corner beverage / mom&pop convenience stores, dry cleaners, a butcher shop, and so on.

You can't blame a guy for being careful about what businesses he rents to.

You can't blame an absentee owner who works to keep his Lakewood properties full and viable. You may be intrigued--without having any stake in the wager--by quirky businesses he decided not to take on as tenants. You may disagree with some of his bets. But he'is a 2nd generation Lakewood landlord with a whole lot of connections and investment in the city. Definitely not part of Lakewood's absentee owner problem.

[Glenn Palmer]

Nicely put Mike. I don't like empty storefronts but I do understand his point of view.

[Brian Pedaci]

Just curious, Jim, how many months of free rent would you have given to the guy who wanted to open a head shop? Would you support your storefront tenants living in the space as well?

Either you misread the sarcasm in the piece or you're trolling just because you don't like the guy. He's not honestly calling for more burger and beer joints. He's making the same point you've made dozens of times on this board - it's frustrating that seems to be the primary sustainable business model for Lakewood. You make it sound like some kind of crime for someone to invest in commercial real estate with the hope of seeing a return on that investment.

"I’ve gotten off-kilter inquiries for years. The difference is now I listen to the callers, at least for a few minutes. But terrariums, body painting and astrology are tough ways to go, particularly in a down market. Burgers, fries and beer. That’s the ticket."

I got the impression he'd like to rent to unique, neighborhood-based businesses, as long as they have a chance to survive and not leave him with the same empty storefront and a pile of trash to clean up in a couple of months. He's got some risk involved too, and I don't begrudge him his right to mitigate that risk by not renting to businesses without a clear business plan or an unrealistic expectation of the money they'll make from the product they're offering.

[Jim O'Bryan]

Just curious, Jim, how many months of free rent would you have given to the guy who wanted to open a head shop? Would you support your storefront tenants living in the space as well?

Either you misread the sarcasm in the piece or you're trolling just because you don't like the guy. He's not honestly calling for more burger and beer joints. He's making the same point you've made dozens of times on this board - it's frustrating that seems to be the primary sustainable business model for Lakewood. You make it sound like some kind of crime for someone to invest in commercial real estate with the hope of seeing a return on that investment.

"I’ve gotten off-kilter inquiries for years. The difference is now I listen to the callers, at least for a few minutes. But terrariums, body painting and astrology are tough ways to go, particularly in a down market. Burgers, fries and beer. That’s the ticket."

I got the impression he'd like to rent to unique, neighborhood-based businesses, as long as they have a chance to survive and not leave him with the same empty storefront and a pile of trash to clean up in a couple of months. He's got some risk involved too, and I don't begrudge him his right to mitigate that risk by not renting to businesses without a clear business plan or an unrealistic expectation of the money they'll make from the product they're offering.

Brian

I am not sure if I would give the head shop any free rent.

And Bert does rent to a wide variety of people like TJ's Butcher Block. Maybe I am put off by some of the things Bert had said to me, and others I know in the past. But I work with and appreciate many people and groups I do not always agree with.

I also agree in part with Michael, it's Bert's property, so he can do what he wants. My question is, how many storefronts are empty because their owners are waiting for the city to bring in the next 5 Guys chain into their property? Their right, sure, but let us know as
Bert did, that the storefronts are empty because of the landlord, not because people do not want to rent them. So I do not have to hear another politician go on about "empty storefronts."

I think it is a slippery slope as I have mentioned before. According to the city and or LakewoodAlive, they swung the deal that got 5 Guys in. So if you had a space like Bert's-- let's say the old recruiter's office-- that has been empty for some time, is it for lack of interest or lack of Bert wanting anything less than a 5 Guys in? You read Bert as joking, I did not, and having spoken with Bert, I believe that is what he meant, as he has assured me and others that he would NEVER live in Lakewood. So does he care about Lakewood outside of pure $$$ and cents?

Another Bert story.
http://www.city-journal.org/2012/22_1_landlord.html

While it says winter of 2012, I believed it first ran in the NY Times over a year ago. I
think once again Bert shows his disdain for Lakewood, Lakewood residents, and the fact
that even after going to college, not the one he claims to be from, he finds Lakewoodites
to be mostly low-end strippers and Section 8 people, that are more of a nuisance than
the high-end medical students his friend gets to rent to on the East side.

So once again, are we now at the mercy of the monster we created, or the one Bert imagines?

Who knows.

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[Brian Pedaci]

If even half the stories in that article are true, I could forgive him for being a bit jaded.

[Jim O'Bryan]

If even half the stories in that article are true, I could forgive him for being a bit jaded.

Brian

I am not trying to change Bert, not asking him to change. Trying to understand Bert, and
the impact on Lakewood. There is very little one can do once a person owns, and keeps it
in legal, or even above legal shape. But one of the many discussions that I see here and
everywhere is "We have so many empty storefronts..." Well, maybe, just maybe we the
city and LakewoodAlive bragging about bringing in Quaker Steak and Lube,(started in 2007)
or 5 Guys, etc. is it gives incentives to business to hold out for the city to step in.

Are we creating our own problem.

At the same time we have Bert who openly admits he is not a landlord by choice, but
through inheritance, really does not like being a landlord, and would have preferred that
his father had left him property in the Heights which is filled with student doctors, not
Lakewood pole dancers. So in his frustration which is pretty odd when you read it, he went
to one college but prefers to act like he went to a cooler college, he writes piece after
piece which lands in the NY Times about how bad Lakewood is.

Again, what some see in Lakewood, Absentee Landlord Does It Again...

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