Free rent? Buyers of an east Wichita shopping center have a plan to fill vacant spaces

The new owners of the Brittany Center at 21st and Woodlawn plan to offer up to a year of free rent to tenants who take up residence in the shopping complex.

Ben Hamd, the founder of Nashville-based Brookwood Capital Advisors, said if a retail space is sitting empty, there’s no sense making local businesses pay rent on day one.

“Free rent, maybe some money up front, six months to a year of free rent for someone to get something started, and then after that, they have low rents and everybody wins,” Hamd said.

He said the Brittany Center, which currently features Vasa Fitness, Dollar Tree and a soon-to-be-opened Ollie’s Bargain Outlet, has at least 17 vacancies.

Hamd, 31, and his business partner Wyatt Woeltje, 26, purchased the 210,450 square feet of retail space from Bow River Capital for $8.2 million.

Hamd said too many landlords end up with half-empty shopping centers and malls because they’re only interested in courting national tenants.

“Unless you come to the table with a slush fund of $100,000, you really can’t get something started in most shopping centers in the U.S.,” Hamd said.

“You say ‘Hey, I want to open a business,’ and they say ‘OK, I need first month and last month’s [rent], a couple months of deposit, I need to run a credit check, you need to have $100,000 in the bank’ — all this crazy stuff that is just not realistic for someone to start a business.”

He said Brittany Place can accommodate anyone with a good idea.

“If you have an idea that’s been percolating in the back of your mind, I think this is going to be the center to try it at,” Hamd said.

“Service-based businesses, discount stores, hair salons, a furniture store — really just about anything.”

The first building Hamd ever bought was in Larned, Kansas. He turned it into an Alco discount store.

He’s moved on to applying his business-friendly rent model in shopping centers all over the country, including a small mall in Liberal that was empty when Brookwood bought it and now boasts 90% occupancy, according to their website.

The Brittany Center deal was closed by Drew Gannon and Miles Osborne of NAI Martens.

This story was originally published March 17, 2022 at 1:26 PM.