Owner says pandemic will change tenant mix at Atlantic Center/Terminal malls, again touts more food and beverage across from Barclays Center

From Chain Store Age, 1/6/21, 5Qs for Ronald Dickerman on urban retail, post-pandemic, and interview with the head of Madison International Realty, which in late 2017 bought the remaining share the Atlantic Terminal and Atlantic Center malls in Brooklyn:

Your company purchased Forest City’s New York retail portfolio in New York City just a few years ago. Have your strategic plans for it been altered by the pandemic?
Yes and no. Stores were closed by government mandate. We couldn’t insist on tenants paying rent. There were a lot of discussions of forbearance and forgiveness. But the pandemic has also has provided us with a platform to increase our curb appeal. We’re letting some tenants leave and are creating a tenant mix that’s more exciting for our customers. Take Barclays Center. On a typical day before COVID, two million people a year passed through that site, yet across the street they barely found any food and beverage opportunities. So the pandemic has created an environment to add tenants there that have been missing.

Well, I don't think they yet have those new tenants, according to a list at Atlantic Terminal+Center (as they're calling it). This obviously becomes more important once Barclays Center reopens to crowds, and when larger numbers of people are commuting to or from work via the Atlantic Terminal hub--er, Atlantic Ave.-Barclays Ctr.

It's unclear whether Madison International is contemplating building towers over Atlantic Center, exploiting available development rights. But the market for urban towers, residential for office, is now far less than it was, given the pandemic, though Brooklyn--closer to residents--may have an edge over Manhattan.