VOL. 128 | NO. 27 | Friday, February 8, 2013
Inked
Sarah Baker
Madewell Coming to Saddle Creek
By Sarah Baker
The Shops of Saddle Creek in Germantown will soon gain another national retailer with no other presence in Tennessee.
Madewell, a subsidiary of J. Crew Group Inc., has signed a 3,061-square-foot lease in The Shops of Saddle Creek North, 7509 Poplar Ave., in part of the space that was previously The Gap in between James Avery Jewelry and Brighton Collectables.
Saddle Creek is a 148,000-square-foot lifestyle center leased and managed by Fort Worth, Texas-based Trademark Property Co. Vince O’Toole, former senior vice president leasing with Trademark, handled the Madewell deal.
“It continues to solidify our position in the market by having one-of-a-kind tenants,” said Kenneth Taylor, general manager at The Shops of Saddle Creek. “This will be their only Memphis location, as well as the first location in Tennessee.”
The Saddle Creek space is in the build-out construction phase and the store is slated for an April 23 opening, according to a company reprentative. Madewell has already posted some job openings on Craigslist.
The representative confirmed that the retailer wouldn’t be expanding into Nashville for at least another year and added that some of Madewell’s other stores include a denim bar and a chambray bar. It depends on if the Saddle Creek store layout has room for those concepts.
Madewell joins a couple of other stores under construction in Saddle Creek. White House Black Market is renovating and expanding from 2,000 square feet to 2,980 square feet. The boutique will also have a spring opening, and in the meantime is operating out of a temporary location in Saddle Creek South at 2055 West St.
And Brooks Brothers is under construction at Saddle Creek West. The high-end clothier is shooting for a late May opening.
• In other commercial leasing news, Barr Brands International Inc., a Memphis-based specialty cleaning products provider, has inked a 15,000-square-foot office lease at Lenox Park Building D, 6750 Lenox Park Court. Barr will be expanding and relocating from the Kimbrough Building in Germantown Park by June.
Barr’s brand portfolio, which is sold through retail stores nationwide, includes Goof Off, Klean-Strip, BIX, Microban, Bulldog, DampRid, Jasco, Home Armor, Citrustrip and SprinkleRite.
Michael Morgan and Kelly Truitt of CB Richard Ellis Memphis’ tenant advisory group represented Barr in the lease. CBRE Memphis’ office leasing team, led by senior vice president Ron Kastner, represented the New York-based landlord, Highbrook Investment Management.
Barr’s new lease grew Building D’s occupancy from 60 to 75 percent. Kastner said Class A office space along the Poplar corridor is reaching pre-recession levels, and that should drive occupancy and fill some occupancy in suburban properties such as those in Southwind, Tenn. 385 corridor and Northeastern sector.
“Those buildings that are sitting there ready to be leased that are in good physical condition will have a new-found opportunity basically these next two to possibly three years – especially those which have 20,000 and larger square foot vacancies,” Kastner said. “I think that Lenox is a good example of that. Not that Barr necessarily was running to the Poplar corridor, but three years ago, they probably would have because the values were there, the vacancies were there and the opportunities were there. Now, if you can even find 15,000 or 20,000 feet along the Poplar corridor, it’s pretty pricey – it’s going to be North of $25 and probably even $27 a square foot to get it if you even can get it.”
Highbrook bought Lenox Park Buildings C through F in May for $22.3 million. The four-story buildings are on about 28 acres; each have more than 100,000 square feet and were built between 1997 and 2001.
“Since acquiring four of the seven Lenox Park buildings in May of last year, Highbrook’s Will Milam has spent a great deal of time getting to know the current tenants of Lenox Park and understanding their needs,” Kastner said.
• Meanwhile, Alliance Express has leased 12,500 square feet at 10400 Marina Drive in Olive Branch.
The Erie, Pa.-based tenant manufactures, supplies and distributes plastic caps, end caps, pipe caps, grommets and industrial components. Alliance Express, which is new to the Memphis market, was represented by Elliot Embry with NAI Saig Co. and Dan Robinson with NAI Dan Robinson & Associates.
The landlord – Metro Investments Co., part of Belz Enterprises – was represented by Trip Spear with Belz.