Inside the Mind of America’s Largest Grocery-Anchored Landlord: Ross Cooper, Kimco

Season 6, Episode 2: This week on the No Cap Podcast, we're sitting down with Ross Cooper — President & CIO of Kimco Realty (NYSE: KIM) — to talk about one of the most resilient asset classes in commercial real estate: grocery-anchored open-air retail. Ross is a third-generation real estate operator whose grandfather Milton Cooper co-founded Kimco back in 1958. After 20 years rising through the investment side of the platform, Ross now leads one of the largest publicly traded REITs in North America. This conversation covers all of it — the origin story, the GFC, the "retail apocalypse" narrative, and how Kimco has quietly built one of the most durable portfolios in the business. We get into how Kimco underwrites acquisitions (location + basis, always), why grocery anchors drive daily and weekly foot traffic that no other asset class can replicate, and how the four segments of the grocery market — traditional, discount, organic, and ethnic — each attract a distinct co-tenancy ecosystem. Ross also breaks down Kimco's approach to redevelopment and densification, including 13,000+ multifamily units either built, under construction, or fully entitled across their portfolio, and why turning a sea of surface parking into a 25-story mixed-use tower can be additive — not disruptive — to the retail below. We also cover Kimco's structured investment program in preferred equity and mezz financing, how they think about balance sheet discipline (including a decade-long push to earn an A-minus credit rating from all three agencies), and why new ground-up retail construction would require 50–60% rent increases in most markets just to pencil — a supply constraint that's quietly been one of the biggest tailwinds for existing center owners. If you want to understand how a REIT that's been in the business since Eisenhower still finds mispriced assets, turns over capital intelligently, and thinks about what comes next — this episode is it. Shoutout to our sponsor, Appfolio. The growth engine transforming how firms handle investor relations and distributions. TOPICS 00:00 – Introduction 05:13 – Kimco’s First Deal and Early Mistakes 10:31 – Curating Tenant Mix Around the Customer 15:08 – Omnichannel Retail and Store Importance 19:44 – Capital Strategy and Debt Approach 25:00 – Portfolio Strategy and Market Positioning 30:00 – Leasing Strategy and Tenant Demand 35:00 – Redevelopment and Value Creation 40:00 – Retail Resilience and Market Outlook 45:43 – Development, Densification, and Closing Thoughts For more episodes of No Cap by CRE Daily visit https://www.credaily.com/podcast/ Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NoCapCREDaily About No Cap Podcast Commercial real estate is a $20 trillion industry and a force that shapes America’s economic fabric and culture. No Cap by CRE Daily is the commercial real estate podcast that gives you an unfiltered ”No Cap” look into the industry’s biggest trends and the money game behind them. Each week co-hosts Jack Stone and Alex Gornik break down the latest headlines with some of the most influential and entertaining figures in commercial real estate. About CRE Daily CRE Daily is a digital media company covering the business of commercial real estate. Our mission is to empower professionals with the knowledge they need to make smarter decisions and do more business. We do this through our flagship newsletter (CRE Daily) which is read by 65,000+ investors, developers, brokers, and business leaders across the country. Our smart brevity format combined with need-to-know trends has made us one of the fastest growing media brands in commercial real estate.