Plans for Prime Outlets Holly Springs were introduced this week during the International Council of Shopping Centers RECon meeting in Las Vegas. The estimated $120-million project will feature approximately 120 stores and is expected to result in 2,000 new jobs.
At the same time, the company plans a grand reopening this weekend at Prime Outlets International in Orlando, which recently completed $300 million worth of work. Orlando is Prime Retail's largest outlet center nationwide, totaling 778,000 sf.
"We feel that the Southeast area is very important, and that our locations give us good market penetration there," says Karen Fluharty, senior vice president of marketing with Baltimore-based Prime Retail. She says the tenant mix at Holly Springs will be similar to the Orlando lineup, which includes upscale outlet brands such as BCBG Max Azria, Saks Fifth Avenue Off Fifth and Neiman Marcus Last Call.
Holly Springs' outlet, set to open in 2010, will be located along Interstate 575 about 30 miles north of Atlanta, and serve the metro Atlanta region. Fluharty says initial response from prospective tenants at the ICSC spring convention has been favorable.
"It gives us the best location on the inside edge of the sensitivity zone," she tells GlobeSt.com in a phone interview from RECon. "The Atlanta market is underserved from an outlet standpoint."
Robert Brevnik, president of Prime Retail, stated in announcing Prime Outlets Holly Springs at RECon that the Atlanta market measured "off the charts" in terms of determining the potential success of an outlet project. He noted that the Atlanta metropolitan area led the nation in population growth between 2000 and 2006, with more than 150,000 people moving to the region annually.
Elsewhere in the Southeast, Prime Retail began work in April on a $35-million project at Prime Outlets St. Augustine that will add 90,000 sf to the current 250,000-sf center and make Saks Fifth Avenue Off Fifth its new anchor. Fluharty said previously that the company considers Northeast Florida to be a growth market.
Also, Prime Retail is pursuing expansion plans at Prime Outlets Ellenton, along Interstate 75 between Tampa and Sarasota. Details of the expansion, which include shopping and parking additions, are now being negotiated with local government officials, Fluharty says.
Prime Retail has two other Florida outlet centers in Naples and Florida City, plus three others in the Southeast in Calhoun, GA, Lebanon, TN and Gulfport, MS. The company owns 21 Prime Outlets nationwide encompassing more than eight million sf, with another two million sf slated over the next several years.
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