I’m out on spring break this week, but with the increased activity in the retail real estate market, I’ll be working a little every day. Spring break was great as a kid and even better while I was in college. The first few years after I got out of school and started working, I could still get away with going on spring break trips. But after a while, you have to grow up.  Luckily, after you have kids and they’re in school, you get to start going on spring break again!

Most of the other brokers I work with are all working harder. There are more brokers in the office early in the morning and late in the evening. Part of it is due to the fact that deals are still hard and take a long time. There seems to always be one more last minute objection to overcome. But the other part—the part I like—is that there is more going on in the market. Retailers’ sales continue to rise, and they’re looking for new spaces in most categories. Grocery, fitness, QSR, fast food, off-price apparel and dollar stores are all expanding.

Income sales are continuing to be very active, and cap rates continue to compress. Almost every developer I have spoken to in the last couple of months is working on new projects. I do not think that most of them will make, but you have to start somewhere.

Sometimes it seems that when business is good, there are never enough hours in the day to take advantage of the opportunities. When business is bad, you have to work harder than ever to uncover the opportunities. Now that things are picking up, you have to work hard to finish the tough deals and make time for the new ones. It seems like there is hardly time for spring break these days.

John Zikos, a partner at Venture Commercial Real Estate, specializes in landlord and tenant representation, leasing, income property sales, disposition, and new development consulting. Contact him at jzikos@venturedfw.com.