Three national developers confirm to GlobeSt.com that they are racing to land the first major anchor for proposed 1-million-sf regional shopping centers in the largely rural county of 140,000 permanent residents, 20 miles southeast of Downtown Atlanta.

The players are locally based Cousins Properties; CBL & Assoc. Properties of Chattanooga, TN; and a partnership of Simon Property Group of Indianapolis and Cincinnati-based North American Properties.

Assuming all of the county and state paperwork is completed this year, the first mall along Interstate 75 would open in 2008, area retail brokers familiar with comparable projects tell GlobeSt.com. The new malls would almost certainly be the death knell for the struggling Southlake Mall in nearby Morrow, GA, Clayton County and Tanger Outlet in Locust Grove, GA, brokers say.