260,000-Square-Foot Power Center Closes in on100% Occupancy

MADISON, AL-In the current economy, it’s newsworthy when a shopping center owner can snag three tenants within a six-week period. It becomes even more newsworthy when said shopping center is still under construction, and the three tenants push occupancy to 95%.

This is what’s happening at the Shoppes of Madison, however.  Developer GBT Realty Corp. launched construction on the 28-acre, 260,000-square-foot, Target-shadow-anchored power center in March, 2011, with completion anticipated during Q2 2012. Thanks to recent leases signed by Ross Dress for Less (which is taking 22,000 square feet); Panera Bread (which will build a 4,000-square-foot freestanding structure on an outparcel) and Massage Envy, 125,000-square-feet of inline space at the center at SH 72 and Wall Triana Highway will soon be gone.

GBT’s senior vice president of development Craig Cole points out many reasons why this center is close to leased up even before the parking lot pavement has been put in place; and one of those reasons is the city of Madison itself.  Located approximately 30 miles southwest of Huntsville, Madison has a forward-looking city council and, not coincidentally, a planning and zoning component under the direction of the economic development folks.

Adding to this are underlying fundamentals – for one thing, the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) moved jobs and people to the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville. Other businesses are growing in the area as well. The result is that Madison “is one of the few places in which rooftops still go up and we see those things called subdivisions,” Cole tells GlobeSt.com.

Another draw for retailers is, of course, the 135,000-square-foot Target Supercenter that is going north. The city of Madison, Target Corp. and GBT struck their partnership at an International Council of Shopping Centers in Las Vegas a couple of years ago.  “The city met with Target, which encouraged them to find a trusted development partner, one that understands Target’s program,” Cole explains. “We, coincidentally, had a booth there, so they rushed over to meet with us. Target saw that, and had a meeting with us immediately after that.”

Then there is the city’s support. Cole says that Alabama’s economy is primarily sales-tax-based (rather than property tax-based), and the city, in turn, put together a great economic incentives package that would help generate more sales tax. Beyond that, Cole adds, the city was able to push through other projects, such as approvals for off-site road ramp improvements to help improve traffic flow to the center.

Finally, there is the fact that retailers, in many cases, are cautiously dipping their toes in the water. “They’re being careful with how they grow,” Cole says. “They keep an eye on Target. Target lends a lot of credibility to the markets they’re in.”

The Tennessee-headquartered GBT is, in fact, so impressed with Madison, that it’s ready to develop some more. “We have approximately 12 acres at the corner of Balch (Road) and highway 72; approximately a quarter of a mile to the west of the Shoppes,” Cole comments. “We’re working with some banks and other national retail tenants to put more space in there.”