ATLANTA-Locally based Selig Enterprises Inc. has signed five anchors to a total 110,780 sf at the nearly completed $140-million, 600,000-sf District at Howell Mill redevelopment at Howell Mill Road and Interstate 75. The project, at the former Castlegate and Dunfrey Hotel sites, is scheduled to open this fall.

The leases bring the 310,000-sf retail component of the project to about 36% occupancy. TJ Maxx is taking 33,188 sf; Ross Dress For Less, 29,702 sf; Office Depot, 19,290 sf; PetSmart, 17,760 sf; and Ulta, 10,840 sf. Selig officials declined to disclose the length and value of the transactions.

However, area retail brokers and marketers familiar with the West Atlanta submarket tell GlobeSt.com the estimated base rent range for non-anchors is probably in the $30- to $35-per-sf range and about $20 per sf for anchors. That would place the estimated aggregate value of the five leases in the $22-million range, brokers tell GlobeSt.com.

The retail component at the District at Howell Mill is adjacent to a 280-unit apartment building. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has a 150,000-sf store on the lower level of the two-level development. Selig marketing director Hilary W. Sure calls the project "a unique, multi-level, urban, mixed-use development."

She is confident "the success of the development will be its tenant lineup and location." Sure says West Atlanta is "a dynamic area recently experiencing a transition from a primarily commercial industrial district to a live/work area for young Atlantans who desire intown living and trendy environments." She adds, "Conversion of former warehouses to loft and condo space, and the gentrification of the Perry-Bolton area have added over 3,400 units, with another 2,000 planned and under construction."

The District at Howell Mill "offers both retailers and intown residents shopping opportunities previously not available on the west side of Midtown," Sure notes.