Terms of the lease and occupancy at the center were not disclosed. But area retail brokers familiar with area shopping center rents tell GlobeSt.com Nordstrom is expected to sign a 20-year lease at an estimated base rent of $40 per sf. That would place the estimated value of the deal at $108 million, one of the largest in recent retail leasing annals.

Nordstrom plans to start an estimated $2-million renovation of the Lord & Taylor space this quarter and have the store open in spring 2005. Nordstrom's presence at the 850,000-sf, 36-year-old Phipps Plaza marks the retailer's third store in the metro area. The company has stores at the 1.4-million-sf Perimeter Mall in north Fulton County and at the 1.9-million-sf Mall of Georgia, the largest regional shopping center in the metro area.

Increased traffic congestion and customers' parking hassles at many of the city's regional shopping marts were factors in Nordstrom's decision to open a third area store, says Geevy Thomas, the company's executive vice president and south regional manager. "With traffic becoming increasingly challenging in the greater Atlanta metro area, we're excited to offer a third store to area shoppers and increase our market presence," Thomas says.