In the News

Commercial Property Executive – With so many measures aimed at slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus—such as social distancing, shelter-in-place orders and travel restrictions—the retail sector is going through its toughest period since the Great Recession. Several mall owners shuttered their properties a month ago and the financial impact on retail tenants “has been devastating,” according to Capstone Advisors Founder & President Alex Zikakis.

He has been in the retail business for almost 25 years, overseeing a full range of real estate services for enclosed regional malls, open air malls, neighborhood and community centers. In the interview below, he shares his insights on what it takes to cope with the outbreak and reveals his strategy to limit the impact of COVID-19 on his business…Read the Full Interview

Chicago Morning Star – The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are not limited to the physical health of US residents. The economic health of the US is also badly impacted by the virus outbreak. The stock market has fallen over 33% percent from its February highs. Unemployment is also expected to rise by more than 20% in the US due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Alex Zikakis, the founder and president of Capstone Advisors, said, “The impact of the virus on the commercial real estate market has been dramatic so far.” The practice of social distancing in the US has put pressure on retail businesses. Read the Full Feature

REBusiness Online – The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has not only impacted the physical health of humans around the world, but the health of the U.S. economy as well. While the stock market rallied over 11 percent on Tuesday, its biggest jump in nearly 90 years, on news that a federal stimulus bill to rescue the economy from the coronavirus was imminent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was still down 31 percent from its most recent high at the closing bell. Meanwhile, economists say weekly jobless claims — new filings for unemployment insurance — could hit 2 million or 3 million. The Labor Department will release the latest figures on Thursday morning. Before the coronavirus hit, weekly jobless claims hovered around 215,000. Though no one knows the true fallout yet — because we’re still in the thick of it.

“The impact of the crisis on the commercial real estate market has been dramatic so far, and we are only in the beginning,” says Alex Zikakis, president and founder of Capstone Advisors, a real estate investment, development and asset management company in Carlsbad, Calif. Read More

The cycle is mature—so mature that many are predicting a recession in the next 12 months. The mature cycle has meant peak pricing in many top markets, and as a result, investors have fled to secondary markets to chase yield, and Phoenix has been a favorite. In prior cycles, Phoenix has been a final play before a downturn hit, but this time, things may be different.

“One of my real estate investor buddies once said to me, ‘Phoenix, where California money goes to die at the end of every real estate cycle.’ There is no doubt that historically Phoenix has been a boom and bust market,” Ira Schwartz, COO of Capstone Advisors, tells GlobeSt.com…Read More

Capstone Advisors is continuing to expand its Phoenix retail portfolio. The firm has exited out of a shopping center in San Diego and purchased its fifth retail property in Phoenix. Capstone purchased 18,037 square feet of shop space at the 250,000-square-foot Tuscano Town Center in Phoenix. The property is 100% leased to 12 tenants, and is an ideal fit for Capstone’s Phoenix business plan.

“We are focused on two primary product types in Phoenix, retail and multi-tenant flex-industrial. This is our fifth current project in that market,” Ira Schwartz, COO of Capstone Advisors, tells GlobeSt.com…Read More

Capstone Advisors has identified the Reno market in Nevada has a target for new retail construction. Like nearby Las Vegas, Reno has also experience economic and population growth, and now has a pent-up demand for retail and services. Capstone has already broken ground on the first retail building on an undeveloped parcel of Sky Vista,but it could be the beginning of several projects for the San Diego-based developer… (Read More)

RENO, Nev. — Capstone Advisors announced this week crews recently broke ground on the firm’s first retail component at the Sky Vista development project in the North Valleys area of Reno. According to an Aug. 13 press release from the Carlsbad, Calif.-based real estate investment and development company, the future building will feature 10,899 square feet of mixed retail space, including an available restaurant footprint with an outdoor patio.

Sky Vista at North Valleys consists of a 1.91-acre pad site immediately adjacent to the existing Walmart Supercenter — which opened in 2012 at 250 Vista Knoll Parkway — and a nearly 96-acre parcel of adjacent land entitled and planned for residential, retail and industrial development. (Read More)

Connect California – Carlsbad, CA-based Capstone Advisors acquired El Camino Square Shopping Center in Encinitas, CA from US Financial, LP for $12.2 million. The 27,499-square-foot property is located at 191 N. El Camino Real in the heart of Encinitas’ retail corridor…Read More 

San Diego-based Capstone Advisors has sold its first commercial asset in a decade. The firm traded out of a retail property in Knightdale, North Carolina and purchased a two-building flex-industrial asset in Phoenix. Capstone had owned the retail center, a 63,543 square-foot shopping center fully leased to credit tenants, since it was developed in 1998. The trade was motivated by a combination of market conditions as well as geography. (Read More)