One of the special aspects of the retail real estate business is that major malls and shopping centers become local focal points in scores, or even hundreds, of communities. General managers of big properties are often unofficial members of the community boards of the towns their properties reside.
Newmark Merrill is one of those. It operates 80-plus shopping centers in California, Colorado, and Illinois that house 1,800 tenants. In April, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, it launched “Wave of Kindness,” an effort in which its centers and tenants provide meals to hundreds of local families whose household heads are frontline healthcare workers. This week, Newmark completed its eighth “Wave.”
“NewMark Merrill is grateful to all the healthcare workers who continue to work tireless hours to help our loved ones and our communities,” said company CEO Sandy Sigal. “Through our Wave of Kindness program, we will continue to look for ways to help those in need during this pandemic.”
Tenants driving the banquet bus on this run in California were Ohana Hawaiian BBQ in Oceanside; Buca di Beppo in Thousand Oaks; Outback Steakhouse and Xevichez in Northridge; Norm’s in Inglewood; Round Table Pizza in Fair Oaks, and Burger IM and Uncle Chaung’s Bakery in Riverside.
Chick-fil-A made the rounds in Melrose Park, Ill., and Nextdoor and Parry’s Pizzeria and Taphouse delivered in Longmont, Colo.