Retail & Specialty Properties
Car washes, QSR, automotive, medical office, and other specialty plays
Specialty retail has some of the best cap rates in CRE — if you understand the specific business model. This course covers car washes (tunnel vs. self-serve), quick-service restaurants (QSR), automotive (Autozone, O'Reilly, Firestone), drive-thru coffee, and medical office. Each has unique underwriting quirks.
What you'll learn
- Underwrite car wash, QSR, auto parts, and drive-thru coffee properties
- Evaluate tenant credit for national, regional, and franchisee-operated stores
- Understand sale-leaseback deals and how to source them
- Navigate medical office building (MOB) leasing and investment
- Spot specialty retail opportunities with embedded upside
Lessons
- 01
The Retail and Specialty Landscape
An overview of retail commercial real estate — single-tenant, multi-tenant, anchored centers, specialty retail, and the asset classes covered in this course.
11 min - 02
Multi-Tenant Strip Retail — Underwriting and Value-Add
How to evaluate and improve multi-tenant strip centers — tenant mix, lease structures, CAM, value-add tactics, and the operational discipline that drives returns.
12 min - 03
Anchored Shopping Centers — The Grocery-Anchored Playbook
How grocery-anchored and other anchored shopping centers work — anchor economics, in-line tenant dynamics, underwriting, and the institutional retail world.
12 min - 04
Car Wash Investing — Tunnel, Self-Serve, and Operational Economics
How car wash investing works — tunnel vs self-serve formats, membership economics, brand selection, and why car washes have become one of the hottest specialty CRE niches.
12 min - 05
QSR and Drive-Thru — Corporate, Franchise, and Ground Leases
How to invest in quick-service restaurants and drive-thru retail — corporate vs franchise guarantees, ground lease structures, brand selection, and unit economics.
11 min - 06
Medical Office Buildings — MOB Strategies and Tenant Evaluation
How to invest in medical office buildings — on-campus vs off-campus, specialty MOBs, tenant evaluation, and the aging-population tailwind driving the asset class.
11 min - 07
Sale-Leasebacks and Creative Retail Structures
How sale-leasebacks work in retail — sourcing, structuring, master leases, build-to-suit, percentage rent, and the creative deal types that move beyond standard NNN.
11 min
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