Daniel Stolz Featured in Real Estate NJ Article "Retail Leaders See a Clearer Path to Recovery, Despite Continued Uncertainty"

Firm Partner and Bankruptcy, Reorganization & Creditors' Rights Practice Chair Daniel M. Stolz, Esq. was featured in a recent Real Estate NJ article, "Retail Leaders See a Clearer Path to Recovery, Despite Continued Uncertainty."

Despite the enduring struggles of malls, further bankruptcies by large chains and other challenges to brick-and-mortar retail, industry leaders say the path to stability is becoming clearer. That’s especially true for properties that were fundamentally stronger before the pandemic, which are now drawing the attention of tenants in search of space.

Mr. Stolz noted that many landlords forgave rent and took other short-term measures in 2020 to help keep their tenants in place and protect their own properties. For those that did want to get their space back — often because tenants simply shut their doors or stopped paying rent — the state’s moratorium on commercial evictions and other restrictions made it all but impossible to do.

“All you’re doing is pushing the ball down the road,” said Stolz, who chairs Genova Burns’ bankruptcy, reorganization and creditors’ rights practice. “Eventually, there’s going to be a reckoning and New Jersey, being as densely populated as we are and being where we were in terms of the damage that happened at the beginning of the cycle, is probably going to be at the lead of the crisis when it comes.”

He noted that business bankruptcy filings were lower to start the year, but still believes that “the water is rising behind the dam and at some point the dam is going to break.”

To access the full article, please click here.