I work with Vestar property management because one of my businesses is located in a mall of theirs. Though initial impressions were positive, we learned over time that we were basically suckered into a lease with them. Let me elaborate.
Before signing a lease, we did a walk through of the mall. The property was new at the time, so there were many unknowns. We were promised that local businesses were all meeting or exceeding sales expectations and that it would be easy to build a business there. After crunching some numbers, we agreed on the terms of a lease and construction began.
Shortly into construction, we discovered that because of Alameda's unique foundation (it was basically built on landfill) that we would need to essentially saw and cut out 70% of the ground. At this point, we were locked into the lease so we proceeded. We spent close to a month measuring, cutting, and measuring again (to make sure we don't cut any of the cross beams). The project ended up going 50% over budget and took three times as long. All the while, we were working with their project manager who was restricting us on noise regulations, signage, and etc...
With construction over, we opened our restaurant. The public liked us and we were doing well enough to cut even but within two months, the initial owners of the mall sold the property and the value was reassessed. The exchange of property ended up not costing us any increase in rent but raised our monthly property taxes by TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS.
As time progressed, the "honeymoon" phase of our restaurant came to an end. The mall was cooling down and foot traffic all but together came to a grinding halt. We were assured that there would be marketing done from Vestar's management team to drive traffic up but the solutions they came up with only ended up costing us more money and did little to increase sales volumes.
In its present state, my business is one of the lucky few to not be in the RED. There is rampant crime, the perimeter of the mall is filthy, and our property manager is never around / available to listen to any of our concerns (thanks Jennifer Nettles). The only time management has reached out to us is when they have discovered new ways to squeeze more money out of the already dying businesses in the mall.
So in conclusion. Yeah. It's a one star. I'd give less if it was possible. I understand that it isn't necessarily one person's fault because this is a company we are talking about. Rather it is a summation of their actions that leads me to believe that they don't give a rat's ass about the well being of those who inhabit their buildings. read more
