Base of Opportunity
Oct 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Jennifer Popovec
The Jordan Co., along with partner Ben Carter Properties from Atlanta, was successful in persuading a number of big-box retailers, including Barnes & Noble, Bed, Bath & Beyond and Kohl's to take a chance on the market by highlighting the area's population and retail sales per household, Shulman says.
Schulman notes, annual household retail sales in Columbus, Ga., are more than $60,000. That's almost double the state average of $32,000 per household. It's also larger than Atlanta where the figure is $42,000.
Overall, since 2000, the Columbus metro area has added two million square feet of retail space, including Columbus Park Crossing, which was developed by the Jordan Co. and Ben Carter Properties and consists of more than one million square feet.
“We were severely underserved, but the initial phases of Columbus Park Crossing served a lot of the pent-up demand,” Shulman says. “But it's still challenging to get retailers to come here. Retailers love to hear about new growth, but they are basing their decisions on historical performance.”
Varying impact
However, development in every market is not successful. Columbia, S.C., is home to Fort Jackson, a military training facility for the U.S. Army where more than 70,000 soldiers train annually. Those soldiers have little impact on Edens & Avant's nearby properties, Trenholm Plaza and the Shoppes at Wood Hill, says Edens & Avant's vice president of retail, Tina Marshall. That's because soldiers at Fort Jackson only stay at the base for a few days at a time, so they are unlikely to bring family to live there.
The people employed at Fort Jackson and live in Columbia shop the centers, Marshall says, but the base has no more effect than any other employer.
That's not the case in Fayetteville, N.C., where the economy is driven primarily by Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force Base. Together, they account for 60,000 of the town's population of 175,000 and generate $6.6 billion to the local economy, according to the Fayetteville-Cumberland County Chamber of Commerce.
By 2012, Fort Bragg is anticipating as many as 40,000 military and support personnel relocating to Fayetteville as a result of BRAC. Many of the new residents will be coming from Fort McPherson in Conley, Ga., and a large percentage of them will be military officers and high-ranking DOD civilians, says Patrick Murray, a retail broker with Real Estate Investment Team in Fayetteville.
Military green
While military personnel aren't ranked among the highest paid Americans, salaries for officers can be competitive with the private sector, and soldiers' salaries, which are lower, are usually supplemented by bonuses and special pay for a range of activities.
Fayetteville, N.C.-based C&S Commercial Properties commissioned a study of military personnel incomes and found an E2 soldier's (a level above newly enlisted) base pay is $18,000 and $38,000 when bonuses are included.
Military personnel receive housing allowances and the government provides their health care, which can leave more money for discretionary spending. C&S broker Brian Armstrong says soldiers and their families have more disposable income than civilian families. Unlike the typical family, they're not spending 30 percent of their income on housing, so they can spend more money keeping up-to-date on the latest in fashion and electronics and go out to dinner three or four times a week.
“On paper, Fayetteville is not as appealing to retailers as other markets, but once they get here their stores usually post phenomenal sales,” Armstrong says.
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