Cousins Debuts First 'Avenue' Brand Retail Project in Florida

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VIERA, FL-With a resounding debut in Florida’s specialty retail markets, Atlanta-based Cousins Properties Inc. has opened the first 371,000-sf, estimated $33-million phase of the 415,000-sf the Avenue Viera here by preleasing 78% of the open-air shopping center project to 40 of the country’s top merchants and restaurateurs.

The Avenue Viera, 60 miles southeast of Downtown Orlando in Space Coast country, is Cousins’ seventh national Avenue-brand enterprise. Company officials declined to disclose the average asking base rent range and terms of the signed leases, but Orlando brokers familiar with comparable high-end projects tell GlobeSt.com the average rent is probably in the $25-per-sf to $35-per-sf range. Several brokers, however, tell GlobeSt.com that range is low and put the number at $30 to $50 per sf.