Well, when a landlord doesn't lower the rent to get a new retail tenant, it's because that landlord can't. They're free to renegotiate or refinance the terms of mortgages, given the extraordinary downturn facing retail storefronts. And the future will be full of even higher vacancy rates, higher interest rates, and lower rents. Retail rents have flattened, she says, but the construction of retail space has not. Still, from an urban-planning standpoint, the way we finance retail space makes no sense.

---

Persons: You've, apocalypses, that's, It's, David Greensfelder, Greensfelder, Banks, what's, —, Larisa Ortiz, Ortiz, Justin Sullivan, Lorenzo Perez, I've, Rachel Meltzer, Kazuko Morgan, Perez, Culdesac, Something's, Meltzer, Adam Rogers Organizations: McKinsey & Company, Verizon, Republics, Harvard Locations: America, Urban, Manhattan, San Francisco, Market, vaya, What's, Phoenix, That's, LA, New York, Wakefield, Tempe , Arizona