Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Issue link: https://sct.epubxp.com/i/654213
Given that Louisville is home to Hillerich & Bradsby Co., maker of the Louisville Slug- ger baseball bat, it is notable that Louisville has been batting a thousand in the retail expansion game. In fact, over the past sev- eral years, the city has played well enough that the developable "bases" are loaded, as it were. "There's a shortage of quality retail space now, especially for national tenants looking to enter the market with multiple locations," said Justin Baker, a founding partner and principal broker of Louisville- based Trio Commercial Property Group. Such fast-growing employers as FedEx, Ford Motor Co., UPS and the area hospitals continue to stimulate local spending, he says. Ford alone is adding some 2,000 jobs at its Kentucky truck plant. Louisville retail occupancy is at a healthy 94 percent, according to CBRE, while the unemployment rate stands at just 4 percent. Even better than Louisville's last economic expansion, this one is outper- forming the U.S. economy as a whole, ac- cording to Federal Reserve Bank economist Kevin Kliesen, speaking at an economic outlook meeting in Louisville in February. Business leaders even complain of a short- age of qualified workers, Kliesen said. Among the latest additions to the retail mix are two power centers from Brentwood, Tenn.–based developer GBT Realty. The 240,000-square-foot Middletown Commons, in east Louisville, whose tenants include Texas-based Academy Sports & Outdoors, which entered the market in November with a pair of 71,000-square-foot stores. Then GBT's 230,000-square-foot Jefferson Com- mons, on the south side, features the second Academy Sports & Outdoors, other retailers and several fast-casual restaurants. The central business district is also strong, thanks to the downtown-centered Urban Bourbon Trail, which boasts a Main Street Whiskey Row and some other bars and cafés that pour dozens of Kentucky bourbon brands, Baker says. All this is at- tracting hotel and retail development as well as bourbon-tasting tourism — known in local parlance as "bourbonism." A $289 million, city-subsidized Omni Hotel is going up with 612 rooms plus 225 luxury apart- ments in it. At least nine others are in the works too, according to Baker, including a Canopy by Hilton and an Aloft Hotel. The downtown's first grocery store is scheduled for completion in the spring of 2018. Mean- while, the Kentucky International Conven- tion Center is to undergo a $185 million expansion-renovation starting in August. The Outlet Shoppes of the Bluegrass, which opened in late 2014 in nearby Simp- sonville, is expanding already, with eight additional stores, including Abercrombie & Fitch, H&M; and The Limited. Louisville's two super-regional malls, both of them Gen- eral Growth Properties–owned, are almost fully leased. The first of these is Oxmoor Center, where a recent renovation brought in Altar'd State, H&M;, Kate Spade New York and others; the other is Mall St. Mat- thews, which added a Cinemark. A few sizable projects are in the early planning stages for the underserved and his- toric Fern Creek neighborhood in southeast Louisville, including the 46-acre Southpointe Commons, by Barrister Commercial. North of there, meanwhile, Marshall Realty is de- veloping 20 acres on U.S. 42 for probable retail use, according to Baker. He describes west Louisville, the city's most challenged submarket, as "stabilizing to improving," with the announcement of a planned Walmart and the redevelopment of a former Philip Morris plant. Also in the west sector, BC Wood Properties has added a Hobby Lobby and a Goody's department store to its Dixie Manor Shopping Center. BC Wood also redeveloped Dixie Valley Shopping Center, southwest of the downtown, to accom- modate Hibbett Sporting Goods, Marshalls, Party City, Ross Dress for Less and Rue21. Louisville's population has increased by over 100,000 since 2000, and the pace is likely to quicken over the next 15 years, according to the Building Industry Associa- tion of Greater Louisville. Homebuilders are hustling to keep up: A 1,000-acre residen- tial project called Norton Commons is in the works in suburban Jeffersonville. Meanwhile, Costco announced plans to open its second Louisville store, and Fresh Thyme Farmers Market, Lucky's Market and Total Wine & More are among those entering, according to Baker. "The market is pretty dynamic," said Baker. "Louisville didn't overbuild prior to the downturn, so we're in good shape." — Steve McLinden O N T H E G R O U N D : L O U i s v i L L E , K Y Retailers and developers race to keep up with growth 52 s C T / A P R I L 2 0 1 6 O u t l e t s h O p p e s O f t h e B l u e g r a s s