The role of Tenant Coordinators (TC’s)

TC’s are a vital link between the following elements of the Shopping Centre Industry:

Developers and the Professional team
Leasing
Construction
Design
Tenants
Property Management
Landlords (owners)

The TC’s prime responsibility is to ensure that by constant vigilance and good communication, that Tenants are able to open their stores or other businesses in either new or existing centres, on time and within budget. In order to achieve this, the TC team is responsible for the following:

Tenant Briefings
Layout and design
Costings and Budgets
Contract appointments
Tenant installation and implementation
Handling Tenant snag lists
Tenant handovers
Building audits
Building exit inspections
Property refurbishments and revamps

Tenants (merchants) fall into various categories. These are defined by:

Size of required store
Nature of the business
The size of the parent company or owners
Whether the tenant has a One-Off Store or a Chain Store (part of a chain of stores)
If they have the largest store within a centre, called an “Anchor”.
......These are usually Department Stores, Supermarkets, or other Chain Stores in Malls.
......In Shopping Centres they typically specialize in Groceries, Warehouses,
......Office Supplies etc.

Anchors are the main attraction for shoppers (consumers) of any centre (Shopping or Mall). They also help to attract business to other stores in the centre.

Big anchors are called “Big Boxes” and sometimes have a specific market niche (e.g. toys, office supplies, books, etc.)

An important attraction for consumers in any centre is the tenant mix. Consumers look for a unique combination of stores offering specific types of products and services.

SoundRock’s TC’s oversee the entire process from the concept of the Centre, calculating the budget available, right through to the final opening of the store, with everything working as it should.

The use of an experienced TC in the development of Centres is an enormous benefit to the landlord and to the tenants themselves. TC’s have grown in status and importance with the development of modern Centres (Shopping or Mall). SoundRock puts particular emphasis on the communication skills and the ability of the TC to oversee the accurate implementation of the tenant’s needs without massive disruptions to other areas. The TC is effectively the
trouble- shooter and SoundRock spends considerable time and energy training all their TC’s, so that no problem really fazes them in their task of ensuring that stores open on time, with all facilities operating at optimum efficiency.

This has a positive knock-on effect for the consumer, in that a properly installed Tenant can devote their valuable time to the optimum installation of well stocked and attractively displayed goods, excellent service and the general efficient running of their store from day one.

Although our SoundRock TC’s have no direct contact with the consumer, happy customers from Opening Day onwards are a reflection of their important contribution to the entire process of a well thought-of and profitable centre!

TC’s relieve the Management and Operations teams from the time-consuming task of controlling the Tenant’s Contractors. This includes monitoring Contractor’s deadlines and un-sticking bottlenecks wherever possible.

It is vital that a TC be involved at the very earliest stages of a project in order to create the synergy required of a successful and profitable Centre.

If Contractors are in danger of not meeting deadlines, TC’s are in a position to warn the leasing division. If it is apparent that a Tenant is experiencing cash flow difficulties or are simply not capable of meeting all the terms of their leasing agreements, despite being given every possible assistance, the TC can then anticipate the outcome and advise the Landlord accordingly. The Tenants space can often then be recaptured before getting bogged down in legal processes.

However with SoundRock, this supervision is not a one-way street. Having a strong TC team in place provides the Tenants with numerous advantages as well.

Tenants frequently need information or clarification of some important point in the lease agreement. SoundRock has trained its TC’s to be alert to any confusion on the part of the Tenant (or Landlord for that matter). If the TC does not immediately have the answer to the query, they have the considerable resources of SoundRock to analyse the situation and come up with the fairest answer for all concerned. It is the TC’s responsibility to make sure that no disagreements get out of hand. This is best achieved by making all parties aware that the TC is there to resolve these situations at the earliest possible stage. Good communication is the universal solvent in all these situations. It is critical to good coordination.