Glossary

In-Line Tenant

Also known as: In-line space, Shop space

A smaller retail tenant occupying space within the main building line of a shopping center between anchor or junior-anchor stores, rather than on a freestanding pad or outparcel.

In-line tenants — typically 1,000 to 10,000 square feet — form the bulk of a shopping center's tenant count and rely most heavily on anchor-driven foot traffic, which is why in-line leases are the ones most commonly built around co-tenancy protections, kick-out rights, and percentage rent participation. In-line rent per square foot is materially higher than anchor rent because in-line space carries none of the traffic-generation burden and benefits from prime storefront visibility, but in-line tenants also bear proportionally more of the center's CAM, insurance, and tax pass-throughs. Leasing velocity and rent achieved on in-line space is one of the most closely watched health indicators for a shopping center, since anchor and junior-anchor rent is comparatively fixed for long stretches of the lease term while in-line space turns over more frequently and reveals current market demand.