Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Issue link: https://sct.epubxp.com/i/109754
ON THE GROUND: NASHVILLE Lots to sing about improved to $16.14 at year-end 2012. "Nashville is making its way into the major Music City may be hitting a new high note. leagues of retail as retailers realize the ex- Nashville, Tenn., a crossroads of American panding opportunities Nashville has to of- culture, is fast becoming a haven for top fer with its young and growing population," retailers as well, drawn as they are by a said Buist Richardson, a principal and strengthening economy and a growing list broker at Cushman & Wakefield/Corner- of new and fully renovated retail venues. stone Commercial Real Estate, Nashville. Walmart opened its first Tennessee The metropolitan statistical area, now the 38th largest in the country, with some urban prototype store early last year near 1.6 million residents, enjoys a healthy retail the downtown, and Apple opened a store vacancy rate of 5.7 percent and relatively at Cool Springs Galleria, in the southern low unemployment — about 7 percent, suburb of Franklin. In Brentwood, an af- according to Charles Warner, a vice presi- 43-year-old, 850,000-square-foot 100 Oaks fluent south suburb, GBT Development plans dent of Baker Storey McDonald Properties, Mall. The mall had already been recast as a to build the 1 million-square-foot, mixed-use a Nashville retail real estate firm. Such num- mix of stores and medical offices and clinics Streets of Brentwood. The plans call for bers have retail investment rolling into town for Vanderbilt University. Forty-five-year-old 140,000 square feet of retail, plus a cinema to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, Hickory Hollow Mall is being rebranded as and a hotel. And the Brentwood Place Shop- Warner says. "It's a strong economy that's Global Mall at The Crossings and retenanted ping Center, across the street from a new, supported by diverse industry sectors such by its new owner, Brentwood-based Global 400-unit residential complex, leased a former as health care, entertainment, education and Mall Partnership, which is planning a reopen- Borders space to Golfsmith. automotive," he said. "Many of the suburban ing in April. International investors too are markets surrounding Nashville are experi- drawn to Nashville. Munich, Germany–based zon.com and General Motors, the city is encing new growth as well." GLL Partners bought the 700,000-square- poised for additional corporate relocations foot Nashville West Shopping Center last and a resultant economic surge, according to summer for $73 million. Warner. "Job growth coupled with strong ab- Nashville has largely recovered from the flood of May 2010 that shut down the iconic Opry Mills mall, near the famous Grand Ole Retail space in the city's central business With ongoing expansions by Ama- sorption and low vacancies," he said, should Opry House, for nearly two years. Owner Si- district is undergoing a makeover as well. lead to even more positive activity for the mon Property Group poured some $200 mil- The Gulch, a trendy nightlife and retail haven Nashville retail sector." lion into renovation, and the mall reopened downtown, got Bar Louie, Kocktails and Kou- last March. "Millions of visitors from around ture, Margaritaville and Urban Outfitters last the world can stay longer and spend more in year. Southern Land Co. is building Elliston the area," said Gregg Goodman, president of 23, a downtown residential complex that will The Mills, a Simon Property subsidiary. contain 15,000 square feet of street-level Older malls are similarly reinvesting mil- — Steve McLinden retail. A broad expanse of Bridgestone Arena, lions. The Mall at Green Hills, which opened facing downtown's new Music City Center, is in the early 1950s as an open-air center, up for additional development. The city will has completed a major expansion and handle the leasing for planned street-level now houses Nordstrom and The Container restaurants and retailers. And a $250 million, Store, newcomers to the state. In October 800-room Omni Hotel nears completion in LaSalle Investment Management bought the the area too. Nearly 9 percent of downtown Nashville retail space remains vacant now. Retail asking rents across the market, which declined from a peak of $17.70 per square foot in first-quarter 2008 to a low of GRAND OLE OPRY $15.20 per square foot in first-quarter 2011, M ARC H 20 13 / SC T 51