Kees Janeway on challenges of retail, being a dad to 3

Kees Janeway can trace his career back to one of his earliest deals, helping put Hudson Cafe on Woodward Avenue downtown when he was starting out with Detroit-based Stokas Bieri Real Estate. After time with what was then Taubman Centers, Janeway went out on his own and ultimately started his company, Iconic Real Estate, with Jacob Sworski in 2017. The father of three spoke with Crain’s about the state of downtown retail and the industry in general.

 What are you seeing in terms of downtown Detroit retail?

It’s still pretty dull, for lack of a better descriptor. There is de nitely more people on the streets and more activity, but it is still pretty quiet during the workweek. If you look back at the last 5-10 years of Detroit real estate, the o ce population has been extremely important to the success of the retail down here. I would assert that before COVID, we got to a pretty critical mass of people that were actively spending money. We lost a few (retailers). I don’t know that soft goods is coming back with any sort of vengeance, but I talk to a lot of the food and beverage operators and they seem pretty happy with business volume they are doing, but it’s shifted pretty dramatically from what it used to be.

 The pandemic in particular has had a major impact on shopping and consumer trends, both in the suburbs and city. Talk a little bit about that and how it’s playing out.

I think we have seen a continued shift away from the mall. I think we’ve seen a lot of new retail coming, either open or about to open at Somerset, which is pretty interesting, but that goes to the strength of the location of Somerset, versus, say, Oakland Mall (in Troy) or Lakeside (in Sterling Heights) or Partridge Creek (in Clinton Township).

I think what’s maybe becoming more apparent, outside of food and beverage, is that people with money are continuing to shop. They are not really as negatively impacted. I think they probably split their shopping between online and then go to the retail store to exchange it if it’s not the right look. I think we are still seeing a lot of endof-year discounting, big sales. I’m sure your inbox is full of it, too. Lululemon is sitting on more product than they have ever sat on at the end of the year. Retail

Rumblings

BY | KIRK PINHO

is still adapting. I suspect that strong downtowns will continue to have good sales volumes and tenant mixes.

 What do you do when you’re not working?

I have twin 7-year-olds and a 5-yearold, and two of them are Type 1 diabetics, so there’s a big learning curve, taking care of them and keeping them healthy.

 What’s that been like?

I’m a Type 1 diabetic. I’ve been Type 1 since I was about 12. It wasn’t a shock and I knew it was potentially in the cards, but at the same token you know you can live a pretty happy, healthy and successful life, providing you have the tools to take care of it. It’s expensive, but outside of that, it’s a pretty manageable disease. It’s super challenging to see little girls say they hate this and that kind of stu , but in general, they have a pretty good attitude about it.

 I saw that the honori c you got in high school was “Class Dad.” What is the class dad?

It was 1999 at University Liggett School in Grosse Pointe.

I would assert I probably got Class Dad because, as a diabetic, I wasn’t taking in too much alcohol or crainsdetroit.com

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What was the last through “The Big Oyster” (by Mark him was called he did another one, “Cod,” how the world formed in relationship to salt and cod. “The Big Oyster” is also pretty interesting because it’s around New York and Long Island Sound, which

Kees Janeway is managing partner at Iconic Real Estate

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