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help with such subjects as design or merchandising. But deal- ing with the intricacies of the Austrian permitting process or media landscape is another matter, Wild says. "In Austria you have different types of leasing and staff contracts, not to mention the complexity of having everything be in German rather than Norwegian," he said. "A strong local partner can help act as your sounding board and negotiate these chal- lenges. The reward for us is the ability to incubate differenti- ating, first-to-market tenants at our properties." Creative class When North American Properties acquired Atlantic Sta- tion in 2010, its turnaround effort hinged on listening carefully to the wants and needs of Atlanta's creative class. "One of the big complaints we were hearing from in-town creatives was that Atlantic Station had too many national, cookie-cutter tenants," said Liz Gillespie, vice president of marketing. The firm's marketing, leasing and social-media teams went to work on remaking Atlantic Station — a 138- acre, mixed-use development with 586,000 square feet of retail — into the sort of dining destination that would win favor with discriminating chefs and epicures alike. The first step, Gillespie says, was to start bringing in Atlanta's most popular food trucks — concepts like Yumbii, a seller of Korean-Mexican fusion cuisine, and Café at Pharr, which was getting rave reviews for its gourmet chicken salad. But not long after inaugurating its Food Truck Fridays, Atlantic Station faced a new test: One of its most prominent restaurant spaces was about to go dark just as 50,000 people were set to descend on Atlantic Station for the BB&T; Atlanta Open tennis tournament. "This was a highly prominent, 2,500-square-foot loca- tion, and we wanted it lit up and operational during the tournament," Gillespie said. "Our solution was to launch a competition called 'Calling All Chefs' — we reached out to local chefs and asked them to explain to us why they deserved to 'pop up' in the space." Local food bloggers and reporters jumped on the story, and the contest, which generated 12 qualified leads, helped the team at Atlantic Station build stronger ties with Atlan- ta's top chefs, Gillespie says. Popping up in the space was a great opportunity because of the low up-front costs and af- fordable rent. "The space was already built out right down to the silverware," she said. The first pop-up tenant, which occupied the space from June to September 2012, was a partnership between Café at Pharr and Yumbii. The second, Hudson North, a chef-driven restaurant serving craft beer and cocktails, was open from Oc- tober to December later that year. "Hudson North was already successful, with a permanent restaurant in Midtown, and many of the owner's friends were local chefs," Gillespie said. "So when Hudson North popped up, it raised awareness of the changes that were happening at Atlantic Station." Having attended the Hudson North grand opening, Atlanta chef Shaun Doty ultimately leased the space for a farm-to-table chicken concept called Chick-a-Biddy. "Shaun's sales have been really strong, and he has been an advocate for Atlantic Station, which has helped us bring in additional chef-driven concepts as well," Gillespie said. Last fall Todd Richards opened a barbe- cue and raw-bar concept called The Pig and The Pearl, and last month Ron Eyester was set to open a traditional diner concept called, appropriately enough, Diner. For North American Properties, the Atlantic Station M a r c h 2 0 1 5 / S C T 47 When looking to incubate new concepts, one way to identify strong candidates is to ask whether the prospect's business is consonant with a prevailing trend. P h o t o © A n d r e A s K o l A r i K S E S C h i E f M a r C u S W i l d a n d C h E f d i d i M a i E r