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Critics assail them as predatory lenders. Proponents call them a free-market reality.

Either way, voters on Election Day could effectively make payday-lending companies disappear — a prospect that would, for better or worse, change Tucson's retail landscape.

If voters reject Proposition 200, then the current July 2010 "sunset" provision on payday-loan stores would remain in effect, and more than 100 local payday-loan outlets around Tucson would shut down.

That would create widespread commercial vacancies, concentrated in poor neighborhoods, during tough economic times, several experts said.

"It's not a very good time, as you know," said Craig Finfrock, a broker for Commercial Retail Advisors, referring to the U.S. financial crisis, which has tightened the availability of credit. "Creating any additional pressure on occupancy rates right now is just not great timing."

The shopping-center vacancy rate in Tucson has been low but now is at 9.38 percent and rising, said Don Ahee, research analyst for CB Richard Ellis.

If payday-loan stores leave, it would make prime space available for future tenants, Finfrock said. But such prospective stores may not have the capital to pay the higher rent for the more-visible spots that many payday-loan stores occupy, particularly with the average price of such sites being roughly $2,500 a month per location in Tucson.

A "no" vote on Proposition 200 would remove the exemption that says short-term lending companies can charge annual interest rates as high as 459 percent on loans, and instead cap the interest ceiling at the normal 36 percent. A "yes" victory still would lower the maximum permitted interest rate, but to 391 percent.

"It would have an impact," said Pete Villaescusa of CB Richard Ellis. "Although they're not usually big spaces, there's a lot of them. For the most part, they do go for high-visibility spaces, which might be beneficial for a retailer."

Experts say nearly every lease that payday-loan companies sign allows for those tenants to terminate lease agreements if the payday-lending laws change.

Still, said Proposition 200 proponent Stan Barnes, the impact would be higher in terms of 2,500 statewide jobs lost and the further shrinking of credit for everyday people.

"All of that commercial real estate space will get into the marketplace and depress prices," said Barnes, chairman of the Yes on 200 campaign. In this economy, he said, "this is the wrong time."

But critics of payday loans, including Attorney General Terry Goddard, have argued that such lending practices "victimize" consumers by charging exorbitant interest rates and encouraging borrowers to take out new loans to pay off the old ones. Those practices, critics say, have helped fuel accusations of "predatory lending" against low-income borrowers.

To be sure, the concentration of payday lenders in lower-income areas is evident. An Arizona Daily Star examination of such lenders in Tucson shows several clusters of loan companies in areas where the median household income falls below $25,000 per year, according to data provided by Claritas, a market-research firm. (Click on map in images accompanying this story.)

Rick Wicinski, co-president of the Amphi Neighborhood Association, said several of his residents have raised concerns at meetings about the concentration of payday lenders in their area and the effect they have on residents.

Wicinski's own neighborhood, near West Prince and North Oracle roads, has about a half-dozen payday lenders in close proximity. He said consumers "are not aware of the consequences as much as they need the money to survive."

He would like to see "mom and pop shops" take their place.

But retail brokers such as Finfrock say that with the current state of the American economy, voters should not be pulling the rug out on businesses that, according to Finfrock, provide a classic free-market solution: businesses providing a service that people want.

"I don't know if now is the time to be further tightening credit sources," he said. "And now's not a time to be creating stress on landlords."