As the price for gasoline continues to soar amidst global supply chain issues, there has been an inevitable uptick of interest in alternate, electric modes of transportation. Consequently, electric vehicle retail tenants are ramping up their expansion plans in the immediate future. Look for Tesla, Polestar and Lucid Motors to all rev up their real estate footprint across the country.
Tesla, which already has 190 showrooms in the states, especially in upscale malls, will be moving away from Class A shopping centers in favor of industrial, warehouse and power center mall parking lot standalone units. Tesla expects to open up to 50 new units per year over the next two years. The brand will target more tertiary markets in the West, the South, the Southwest and the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic regions. Specific states that Tesla is currently expanding into for its new showroom stores and service centers include New Mexico, Arizona, Hawaii, Texas, Southern California, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Florida. Tesla has a wide range of retail formats: its retail showroom stores, with limited inventory, are in the 25,000- to 28,000-s.f. range, and its dealership/service center locations are generally in the 45,000- to 60,000-s.f. range. Vacant car dealership lots work well for the brand. Tesla’s latest “Gigafactory” car production facility in Austin is expected to be completed this spring, which will pave the way for more electric vehicles to be sold across the country.
Polestar, a fairly new electric car brand that introduced its first model in 2017 and is owned by Volvo and the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., announced plans to more than double its real estate footprint by 2023, amounting to about 10 to 20 new units per year over the next two years. New markets for immediate growth include Boston, Newark, N.J., Atlanta, San Diego and Southern Florida, specifically Naples and Fort Lauderdale. Beyond these locations, look for affluent markets to be targeted, especially those with a tech industry core. Potential sites for growth include Boise, Idaho, Cleveland, Salt Lake City, Houston, Philadelphia, Stamford, Conn., and Nashville, Tenn.
Although Polestar had been opening its “Polestar Space” units in 2,500- to 3,500-s.f. range, as end caps within both Class A upscale malls and high-end retail street-front locations in major metros, these sites carry limited inventory. Therefore, the brand will also concentrate on opening larger units, which it calls “Polestar Destinations,” in 4,000- to 5,000-s.f. standalone buildings in easier-to-access locations in more tertiary markets just outside of urban centers. Its new units need to be within 150 miles of a Volvo dealership, so as to better provide complimentary pickup and delivery for test drives of the new Polestar models, which are housed on the Volvo lots. Polestar is also open to short-term pop-up leases, for up to two years, in its new locations.
Lucid Motors will be expanding outside of its California, New York and Florida locations, and open between 12 and 18 new units per year over the next two years in all major metros. This year alone, New Jersey, Denver, Dallas, Long Island, N.Y., Boston, Seattle, Miami, the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, Newport Beach, Calif., and Corte Madera, in Northern California’s Marin County, will all see new units. Watch for continued growth in Southern California, Manhattan, and the Northeast, especially in Class A shopping centers and street-front retail, near popular upscale retail and dining destinations with a lot of foot traffic. Space can even be in former restaurants, such as its 3,200-s.f. showroom that took over the former Bagatelle New York French restaurant in the city’s meatpacking district. Generally, the Lucid “studios,” or showrooms are between 2,800 and 3,500 s.f. and the showrooms with an attached service center can be up to 25,000 s.f.
