SOUTHEAST SNAPSHOT, AUGUST 2008

Jackson Retail Market

In the Jackson area, Madison and Rankin counties are the retail bright spots. Madison County, with a population of 88,092 and an average household income of $70,744, has several new developments underway. However, facing uncertain economic conditions, a number of area retail projects have seen retailers putting on the brakes. Just north of Jackson, Ridgeland’s Renaissance Center at Colony Park, developed by The Mattice Company and H.C. Bailey, opened in March with fewer than 20 of the mall’s 60 retail businesses ready for the grand opening. Retailers who have or will locate in the upscale European themed open-air mall are Talbots, Ann Taylor, Barnes & Noble, Williams-Sonoma, J. Crew, Chico’s and Ethan Allen Furniture. Mall tenants new to the Jackson market are The Fresh Market, J. Jill, P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Biaggi’s Ristorante Italiano and Ruth’s Chris Steak House.

Farther north on Highland Colony Parkway,  Kerioth Corporation continues its development of retail, office and residential space in the Township at Colony Park also in Ridgeland. Currently under construction is a new 140-suites Embassy Suites hotel. Scheduled to open in 2009 are AJ’s Grill, Clark & Blake Brennan’s Royal B Restaurant and a Viking Cooking School & Appliance store.

Retail development on Grandview Boulevard in Madison, east of I-55, includes Miskelly Furniture’s new 32,500-square-foot Ashley Furniture  HomeStore, Super Wal-Mart, Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse and Malaco Theatres. Belk announced in September 2007 plans to build a 130,000-square-foot store on Grandview Boulevard but ground breaking has been delayed, affecting plans for smaller specialty shops. 

West of I-55, Colony Crossing, developed by Ergon-Frazier Development, is leased up, and the new Kroger  has opened. On the drawing board just west of Colony Crossing on Mississippi Highway 463, is Park Place,  a 100-acre mixed-use development in its early stages. Site improvements have been made, but no buildings have been started. 

Parkway Development’s Galleria on the east side of I-55 in Madison, has said that its retail center is on hold. Target announced it has no plans to open a store in Madison “at this time” as previously reported.

The Dogwood area of Lakeland Drive in Flowood, east of Jackson, is the center of Rankin County retail. However, the latest project, The Market Street, a mixed-use development by Trademark Properties of Fort Worth, Texas, and  a  part of Flowood’s Towncenter, has hit a snag. The opening of JC Penney’s 100,000-square-foot store scheduled to anchor the 500,000-square-foot, $50 million retail and commercial center has been delayed until 2009 as part of a companywide slow down of store openings. A spokesman for JC Penney cited a decline in consumer spending and the overall slumping economy as their reason for delaying the store opening. Bed Bath & Beyond, DSW Shoe Warehouse, Dick’s Clothing and Sporting Goods, Cheddar’s Casual Café and Corner Bakery Café plan to open in Market Street.

Jackson-based Spectrum Capital, developer of Bloomfield in Pearl, announced plans in May 2007 for a $50 million, 70-store Premier Outlets mall. Construction has neither started on the mall nor have there been any tenants announced. Major street improvements have been completed to connect Riverwind Drive to U.S. Highway 80. Also in Bloomfield,  Sam’s Club has acquired a site for a new 132,000-square-foot store adjacent to Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World, but construction has not begun as anticipated. The Bloomfield development is  home to Trustmark Park, home of the Atlanta  Braves AA team, the Mississippi Braves.

Byram, located on I-55 south of Jackson, has been growing steadily with new subdivisions, apartments and retail. A Walgreens was recently completed where a small retail center once was located. Southeast Properties is redeveloping the 30-acre site of a former Hinds County school at Terry and Siwell roads for retail.

 The Jackson area has few store vacancies except for some newer strip centers. Most of the stores vacated by the Winn-Dixie closings have either been filled by smaller grocery chains or converted to other commercial use. Kerioth Corporation has begun redevelopment of the Madison Winn-Dixie to include a new CVS/pharmacy on the corner, formerly the site of Winn-Dixie’s fuel center. 

New retail opportunities await in Brandon and Gluckstadt as these areas continue their rapid residential growth. Jackson enjoys a broad stable economy based on medical, government, financial, distribution and service businesses. Its long-term future looks bright as perspective businesses discover the area’s hospitality, quality of life and cooperative business climate.

— Bill Cook, CCIM, SIOR, is with Jackson, Mississippi-based Cook Commercial Properties, LLC.

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