The majority of retail development in Lexington, Kentucky, has been the redevelopment or refurbishment of buildings, shopping centers and retail strip centers, according to Philip Sewell, II, CEO of Sewell Development and Brokerage, who says this redevelopment has occurred in most all of the established retail corridors in Lexington. He attributes the redevelopment trend to the limited amount of commercial land in the area.

"Also due to Lexington's limited amount of zoned commercial land, the majority of the new development this year has been in second phases or the completion of developments that have been under development for the last few years," says Sewell. He cites the completion of the lifestyle center in the Hamburg area and new construction of retail premises in the Beaumont area as examples.

The Southland Drive and Winchester Road areas are the submarkets to watch for more redevelopment opportunities in the near future, says Sewell. As for new development, he adds, "There is the possibility of a large retail development to the south of Lexington, just south of the Fayette County/Jessimine County border, on Nicholasville Road. Numerous developers have been working in this area to determine if retailers would consider locating here to service the south side of the Lexington market. There are large tracts of land that have the possibility of being zoned commercial, which are available for purchase."

The overall retail vacancy rate for the Lexington market is between 4 percent and 5 percent. "Even though our economic growth has slowed, we do not expect any large adjustment in the near future, due to the restricted availability of development land in our market and the consistent desire of retailers to enter and expand in this market," states Sewell.

A new retailer to the area is Staples office supply, which has entered the market in the last few months with two stores. One is located on the north side of Lexington in North Park Shopping Center; the other is on the southwest side of Lexington in Turfland Mall. "It is interesting to note that both of these locations are redevelopments," states Sewell. "North Park is a shopping center redevelopment, and Turfland Mall has also gone through a redevelopment."

Another move in the market has been the co-branding of the majority of the Long John Silver's locations with the A & W concept in the Lexington market. "It is good to see this because Yorkshire Global Restaurants Inc., the parent company to A & W and Long John Silver's, has its world headquarters located in Lexington," says Sewell.


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