Prime Development

Prime Development is a fast-rising player in retail real estate, developing retail properties for clients such as Albert Heijn, Jumbo, Basic-Fit, Burger King and McDonald's. The company handles every project from A to Z itself: from land acquisition, to permitting and execution. The developer wants to continue its ambitious growth of recent years and expand into more retail segments. That's why Prime Development recently started using PropertyScanner, our solution for real estate developers.

We spoke with Viktor Vorsselmans, who is responsible for acquisition at Prime Development in East Flanders and the region from Antwerp to the Kempen, and who helps drive the partnership with RetailSonar.

Viktor Vorsselmans, Prime Development

An impressive pipeline

This year alone, Prime Development delivered an Okay City, a Jumbo, Juntoo, Sparkx and several McDonald's locations. Construction is currently underway on a new McDonald's in Sint-Katelijne-Waver and Harelbeke, and construction of an Albert Heijn will start soon, alongside permit applications for, among others, Basic-Fit, AS Adventure, several supermarket chains and several McDonald's locations. Existing sites are also getting a second life: in Schelle, Prime Development applied for an additional permit to demolish an adjacent house in order to create extra parking spaces for Sparkx.

Sparkx Schelle

Two real estate agents who started building themselves

At the helm of Prime Development are managing directors Bart Joosten and Julio Verbruggen, both former real estate agents. That background still shows in how the company operates: the market knowledge of an agent, combined with the role of a developer who follows the project through to construction and delivery.

"Our biggest strengths are our market and retail knowledge, a young and driven team, and a strong network with direct lines of communication," says Vorsselmans. "Thanks to that network, we quickly bring the right parties, experts and authorities to the table."

"We excel in complex projects where different interests come together: those of the retailer, the owner, the municipality and local residents," he says.

"Our role is to translate those interests into a project that is both feasible and high-quality." In practice, that means proactively consulting with stakeholders and working in a solutions-oriented way so that every project can succeed.

Okay Antwerpen

"PropertyScanner helps us find new opportunities faster and in a more targeted way"

"We map catchment areas, competition and hotspots, and based on a clear report we can quickly assess whether there's still potential in a region for a particular retailer."

The biggest impact of PropertyScanner lies in what Prime Development no longer has to figure out itself. That speeds up the process considerably. "With a few clicks we have a complete report, and based on figures like car traffic or saturation levels, we quickly know whether a location is worth pursuing further," says Vorsselmans. "That also saves us costs, because we don't take further steps for locations that don't come out well in the data analysis."

Jumbo Dilsen-Stokkem

More than a software or data package: a collaboration

"It's not the classic situation where you buy a software package and are left to figure it out on your own. The RetailSonar team stays closely involved," says Vorsselmans about the collaboration. "That matters, because data can point very well to where an opportunity lies, but someone still needs to understand why a location works commercially, how the local market is structured, and whether a project is actually feasible."

"We also give the team feedback from our own practical experience, and together we look at how the tool can align even better with how we view real estate and retail."

He's equally vocal about his contact with the PropertyScanner team: "They respond very quickly."

Juntoo Lier

Looking ahead

Prime Development is ambitious. The company wants to realize an ever-growing number of projects, across ever-broader retail segments. It is also actively building its own real estate portfolio, holding on to and leasing out part of the projects it develops.

For that kind of long-term commitment, the quality of a tenant carries more weight, and insight into traffic flow and competitive pressure, such as RetailSonar offers with PropertyScanner, is a way to better assess that risk.

"Our ambition is to keep growing as a specialized player in commercial real estate," Vorsselmans concludes. "We want to spot opportunities earlier, assess them faster, and then actually bring them to fruition."