Image courtesy of Everstreet

A new Boston brokerage will cater to the changing needs of landlords and tenants in the post-pandemic retail landscape.

Ann Ehrhart, a founding member of Boston Urban Partners, leads the new Everstreet retail advisory firm, which includes a specialty in connecting landlords to growing women-owned businesses.

The pandemic’s shocks to real estate since 2020 have prompted many developers and landlords to rethink their approach to retail space, particularly in mixed-use developments, Ehrhart said.

“When I started in the business 18 years ago, retail was the most expensive space in the whole vertical stack,” Ehrhart said. “That’s really changed. For mixed-use urban properties, especially in up-and-coming neighborhoods, retail is becoming much more of an amenity.”

Landlords are less focused on achieving highest retail rents, and are more willing to consider unique businesses with diverse ownership, Ehrhart said.

“If you merchandise it and curate it the right way, it makes your apartment upstairs or your lab space upstairs more competitive,” she said.

Ehrhart is using her networking in local business circles to connect women- and minority-owned businesses to leasing opportunities.

Everstreet is working with Breakthrough Properties, owners of the One Canal office-to-lab conversion in East Cambridge, on filling two ground-floor retail spaces totaling 4,000 square feet.

Along with landlord and tenant work, the firm offers advisory services to neighborhood groups and municipalities working on master plans and revitalization projects, to maximize the role of retail space in mixed-use and downtown environments.