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SYRACUSE, N.Y. – As the retail industry’s brick and mortar stores continue to struggle against the growing online shopping trend, commercial real estate is now facing new financial challenges.

In the wake of a recent report that DestiNY USA, a large retail complex in Upstate New York, may default on its mortgage come June, ,Ìýassociate professor of finance at Â鶹ƵµÀUniversity’s Whitman School of Management, explained what’s going on.

“This is the state of all retail in the United States; it’s not a DestiNY issue,” said Milena Petrova. “When the retail industry struggles it affects the real estate and capital markets, too.”

She said that one of the Pyramid Co.’s loans is coming to maturity in June. Typically, when a commercial loan matures,Ìýbecause it still has a large balance outstanding,Ìýthere are two options – sellÌýthe underlying propertyÌýor refinanceÌýthe loan. Pyramid is not likely to sell so the refinance option is the one they’re pursuing. However, right now,Ìýcapital markets are reacting adversely to what’s happening to the retail market, which makes it difficult to refinance. Thus, Pyramid is seeking to extend its current loan so they have time to wait and see if market conditions improve. It also gives them time to fill vacancies left from store closings and improve their overall profile to be more enticing to a lender, and achieve better loan terms.

According to Petrova, these kinds of financial strategies are increasingly happening across the country, as the commercial real estate industry responds to the ailing retail industry.

“DestiNY is performing very well, considering what’s happening in the country,” said Petrova. “This is due to Pyramid’s strategy to fill the space with other kinds of business, such as entertainment and restaurants, and even an athletic club.”

Overall Petrova is bullish on DestiNY and predicts it will not default. “When it becomes easy to find a parking space and crowds begin to thin out, that’s when we should be worried and I don’t see that happening anytime soon,” she said.

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