Athens Mixed-Use Drives 93% Retail Occupancy in Eight Months

ATLANTA—The retail space in Batson-Cook Development’s West Washington Street building is 93% occupied after less than eight months on the market. The mixed-use building offers 14,600 square feet of retail space, 28,000 square feet of office space, and 540 parking spaces in Downtown Athens.

The latest establishments to take down retail space are casual restaurant Urban Flats and Sweet Samba Boutique and Spa. The facility located along West Clayton and Washington streets, which is essentially the heart of Downtown Athens.

“There is a fairly high barrier to entry to the Downtown Athens market,” Jeremy Hammerton, vice president of development with Batson-Cook, tells GlobeSt.com. “By working with the city and the county, Batson-Cook was able to design and build a LEED Gold certified building in an area with pent up demand.”

Batson-Cook Development Co. developed the downtown parking deck and mixed-use facility in a joint venture partnership with the Athens-Clarke County Unified Government and the Athens Downtown Development Authority. The building features a roof top garden, drought tolerant vegetation and a rain water cistern, the development includes recycled building materials, energy efficient air conditioning units, and tenant guidelines that encourage green build outs.

“Most of the tenants are restaurants and the new construction offered fully code compliant spaces that were customized to each tenants needs to fit their brand and use,” Hammerton says. “The existing inventory of space in Downtown Athens did not offer some of the larger spaces that users were looking for.”
 
Communications firm Jackson-Spalding recently relocated their Athens office to West Washington, where it will join Partner Software. The building is also home to several restaurants including Waffle House, Fuzzy’s Taco Shop, Yoforia, and Momma Goldberg’s Deli.

“Owing to the historic nature of Athens the market did not experience the speculative development we saw in similar cities,” Hammerton says. “At the same time, educational institutions continue to be one of the few favorable spots in real estate. The downtown Athens market is better off than most as a result.”