An informative article on the retail scene in Huntsville
http://www.al.com/business/huntsvilletim...s/1212311780303710.xml&coll=1&thispage=1
By MARIAN ACCARDITimes Business Writer
[email protected]
Many new stores set to open, but several sites empty
More than a half-million square feet of retail space was added to the Huntsville market last year, most of that from the opening of Bridge Street Town Centre, the first retail introduced to Cummings Research Park.
At least another half-million square feet in shopping centers is set to open this year, many anchored by Publix or TJ Maxx.
But there's a flip side: More than 1 million square feet of retail space - from former grocery stores to a department store location to smaller shops - sits empty,
leaving a vacancy rate of more than 9 percent across Huntsville and Madison, according to a new commercial real estate market report.
Scott McLain, a Huntsville-based retail developer, said he would prefer to see that rate in the
4 percent to 6 percent range.
Even with favorable economic conditions in the area, including the thousands of Defense Department and spinoff jobs expected from the BRAC process, "we do not really know what the future holds for retail real estate here," he said.
McLain, principal and broker at Coldwell Banker Commercial McLain Real Estate and chairman of the retail group of Coldwell Banker Commercial nationally, is developing Constellation at South Memorial Parkway and Clinton Avenue. That project is scheduled to include a mix of hotels, offices, shops, restaurants, condos and, possibly, apartments.
"Sometimes we think that we are doing well and the future is bright, and then sometimes we think that the national trends and malaise will spill over our bright economy," McLain told a gathering of about 180 real estate professionals, developers and bankers at a commercial real estate symposium in Huntsville on Thursday.
The national lending market and the state of the capital markets in the country affect the decisions of tenants, retailers and developers, he said.
"We now often hear that tenants love Huntsville but have no money for new stores."
The local submarkets with the highest vacancy rates are University West at 10.47 percent and South Huntsville at 10.75 percent.
Some retailers simply relocate. TJ Maxx on Old Monrovia Road closed a store across from Madison Square Mall and reopened at the new Heritage Square shopping center farther west on University.
Hobby Lobby closed a store on South Parkway to move to the Jones Farm at Valley Bend development in Jones Valley.
Barnes & Noble plans to close its store on University and reopen at Bridge Street.
Winn-Dixie's exit from the Huntsville market - and many others - in the last few years left empty grocery stores on South Parkway and University.
Madison Square
Another vacancy on the west side of Huntsville is the former Belk store at Madison Square Mall. When Charlotte, N.C.-based Belk bought the Parisian chain, it moved into the former Parisian location and closed the Belk store at the other end of the mall.
Katie Reinsmidt, spokeswoman for CBL & Associates Properties, which owns Madison Square, declined to discuss the local retail market except to say: "We're certainly committed to maintaining the merchandising mix (of the mall) and meeting the demands of the marketplace in Huntsville."
At the end of last year, the 24-year-old mall - renovated in 2006 - was 86 percent occupied, according to Chattanooga-based CBL.
By comparison, Huntsville's other mall, Parkway Place, which reopened in 2002 after an expansion and major renovation, was 93 percent occupied late last year. It's co-owned by CBL and Colonial Properties Trust in Birmingham.
Mayor Spencer said she has contacted retailers such as Macy's and Nordstrom to lure them here. Even though Seattle-based Nordstrom has announced plans for stores in Nashville and Birmingham in the next few years, "I haven't given up," she said.
She believes the outlook for retail here is healthy.
"Bridge Street (representatives) would not be talking to me about phase two," she said.
O&S Holdings, the Los Angeles-based developer of Bridge Street, hasn't publicly discussed plans to expand the massive mixed-use development.
With so many big-box retailers, drugstores, motels and restaurants already here, McLain sees opportunities for brokers and developers who have tenants lined up and for retailers that recognize the market's potential.
"Money will surface and find opportunity when it can, and Huntsville offers retail opportunities for that investment," he said.
New direction
Another planned retail, residential and commercial development is Harris Hill, a 600-acre project at Interstate 565 and Moores Mill Road in northeast Huntsville. The city Planning Commission last week forwarded a recommendation to the City Council to approve a major rezoning for that development.
"A project of this size is always going to take a number of years," said its developer, Cole Walker. "This will unfold over two to five years. We're just getting started with the infrastructure. We can move the project as fast as the market will allow."
He believes the population growth in that part of Huntsville, along with little existing commercial development in the area, work in his favor.
"Most of the retailers we've talked to feel the south and west ends of town are well-represented," he said, "but not the northeast quadrant."
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All I said was that it sucked the hotel developer backed out and how it was stupid that the project couldn't go forward without him. I bet daveyp would visit it too. 
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