Landlords hope to reap benefits from the major marketing missteps taken by the Papa John’s pizza chain as the company faces the prospect of closing 250 restaurants across the country.

Throughout the U.S. commercial real estate market, including South Jersey retail space, landlords are concerned the chain’s highly publicized missteps by its former chief executive, who received swift criticism after using a racial slur on a recent conference call, could dissuade shoppers and they may hope the chain shuts stores, an industry spokesperson said recently.

“There’s a need for that size of space in the market and there’s not that much of it,” the spokesperson explained. “They (landlords) may be able to get higher rents from other tenants.”

This report on U.S. and South Jersey commercial properties from the CoStar Group research organization is being made through South Jersey commercial real estate broker Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a South Jersey commercial real estate brokerage firm.

Papa John’s, the country’s third-largest pizza chain in the national and South Jersey commercial real estate markets, has suffered public blows the past year. Founder and former Chairman and Chief Executive John Schnatter — who still owns about 30 percent of the company — this summer used a racial slur to describe African Americans on a conference call. Last fall, he blamed NFL leadership for allowing players to kneel during the National Anthem and complained the controversy was hurting the chain’s sales. At the time, Papa John’s was an NFL sponsor. It has since been replaced by Pizza Hut.

In a recent earnings call, Papa John’s Chief Executive Steve Ritchie said the chain was struggling and may be forced to close some locations.

“We’re going to evaluate all the options as they’re presented to us, if there is some sort of increase in closures that exist here because of the declines in the sales,” he said.

A Papa John’s spokeswoman declined to comment.

If the chain does close stores in its holdings of national and South Jersey commercial real estate properties, a new commercial real estate report offers clues as to which businesses might replace them. The report said non-retail and non-restaurant space in shopping centers increased to 23.1 percent this year from 19.2 percent in 2012. Forty-four percent of shoppers say they prefer to visit shopping centers that have a wide variety of non-retail tenants.

“The growing focus on experience has led to a rising share in non-retail tenants, including food and beverage, salons, movie theaters, fitness centers and medical clinics,” the report said.

Most Papa John’s stores among its various U.S. and South Jersey commercial real estate listings are in shopping and strip centers, and industry observers believe two popular concepts — Mediterranean or taco restaurants — could backfill the space and drive traffic.

For more information about South Jersey office space, South Jersey retail space and South Jersey industrial space or other South Jersey commercial properties, please call 856-857-6301 to speak with Jason Wolf (jason.wolf@wolfcre.com) at Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a leading South Jersey commercial real estate broker that specializes in South Jersey office space, South Jersey retail space and South Jersey industrial space.

Wolf Commercial Real Estate is a South Jersey commercial real estate brokerage firm that provides a full range of South Jersey commercial real estate listings and services, marketing commercial offices, medical properties, industrial properties, land properties, retail buildings and other South Jersey commercial properties for buyers, tenants, investors and sellers.

Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a South Jersey commercial real estate broker with expertise in South Jersey commercial real estate listings, provides unparalleled expertise in matching companies and individuals seeking new South Jersey office space, South Jersey retail space or South Jersey industrial space with the South Jersey commercial properties that best meets their needs.

As experts in South Jersey commercial real estate listings and services, the team at our South Jersey commercial real estate brokerage firm provides ongoing detailed information about South Jersey commercial properties to our clients and prospects to help them achieve their real estate goals.  If you are looking for South Jersey office space, South Jersey retail space or South Jersey industrial space for sale or lease, Wolf Commercial Real Estate is the South Jersey commercial real estate broker you need — a strategic partner who is fully invested in your long-term growth and success.

Please visit our websites for a full listing of South Jersey and Philadelphia commercial properties for lease or sale through our South Jersey commercial real estate brokerage firm.

Efforts are underway in the New Jersey state Legislature to eliminate the blight of vacant and half-empty malls and office complexes, properties that have fallen victim both to e-commerce and a new preference in corporate America for urban settings.

“Buildings used, or previously used, as a shopping mall, shopping plaza, or professional office park,” that have been vacant or partially vacant in the South Jersey retail space commercial real estate market with less than 50 percent occupancy for at least two years, can qualify to be designated as needing redevelopment, says a bill that recently came out of committee in the state Legislature.

This report involving South Jersey retail space commercial properties is being made through South Jersey commercial real estate broker Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a South Jersey commercial real estate brokerage firm.

Once a municipality in the South Jersey retail space commercial real estate market designates an area as needing redevelopment, that site becomes eligible for economic incentives from the town – including being able to make payments in lieu of taxes, or Pilot programs. The bill’s goal is to spark the repurposing of such underutilized and sometimes rundown properties by developers.

With the demise of many retail chains among all South Jersey commercial real estate properties – and the rise of online shopping – malls across the nation have struggled with vacancies and closings. New Jersey has been hit particularly hard by office-park vacancies, because of its large supply of suburban office stock at a time when the millennial workforce is favoring downtown workplaces.

“Without the help proffered by this bill, there is good chance that investors will just be unwilling to take on these complex redevelopment projects, and the malls will deteriorate, cease to provide revenue support for the towns in which they’re located and, not least, they will go from being a destination to unattractive and possibly dangerous, lightly occupied, vestiges of a time gone by,” said one industry spokesperson.

The bill, whose sponsors include State Assemblywoman Carol Murphy, a Democrat representing Legislative District 7, basically updates and expands the types of South Jersey commercial real estate listings that can qualify as being in areas in need of redevelopment.

Murphy said she is very familiar with the issue of vacant malls in part because of what has happened within her own area, Burlington County. Earlier this year, Sears, the last retail tenant in the once-busy Burlington Center mall at 2501 Mount Holly Rd. in Burlington, New Jersey, shut its doors in the South Jersey retail space commercial real estate market, leaving a vacant shopping center in its wake.

“What used to be a thriving shopping center, a shopping mall, is now completely closed,” Murphy said. “So that’s sitting there and we’re trying to figure out what we’re going to do with that.”

Real estate firms dealing with South Jersey commercial real estate listings should be financially encouraged to look at existing, empty retail and office properties to redevelop “without having to take up more of our free land and space,” she said.

For more information about South Jersey retail space or other South Jersey commercial properties, please call 215-799-6900 to speak with Jason Wolf (jason.wolf@wolfcre.com) at Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a leading South Jersey commercial real estate broker that specializes in South Jersey retail space.

Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a full-service CORFAC International brokerage and advisory firm, is a premier South Jersey commercial real estate brokerage firm that provides a full range of South Jersey commercial real estate listings and services, property management services, and marketing commercial offices, medical properties, industrial properties, land properties, retail buildings and other South Jersey commercial properties for buyers, tenants, investors and sellers.

Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a South Jersey commercial real estate broker with expertise in South Jersey commercial real estate listings, provides unparalleled expertise in matching companies and individuals seeking new South Jersey retail space with the South Jersey commercial properties that best meets their needs.

As experts in South Jersey commercial real estate listings and services, the team at our South Jersey commercial real estate brokerage firm provides ongoing detailed information about South Jersey commercial properties to our clients and prospects to help them achieve their real estate goals.  If you are looking for South Jersey retail space for sale or lease, Wolf Commercial Real Estate is the South Jersey commercial real estate broker you need — a strategic partner who is fully invested in your long-term growth and success.

Please visit our websites for a full listing of South Jersey and South Jersey commercial properties for lease or sale through our South Jersey commercial real estate brokerage firm.