The Outlet Shoppes at Atlanta on track

By Arielle Kass - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A Woodstock shopping development originally conceived as a lifestyle center is closer to being approved as an outlet mall.

Even before the recession hit, lifestyle centers, which are open-air malls, had fallen out of favor, Horizon Group Properties CEO Gary Skoien said. And while the $80 million Outlet Shoppes at Atlanta still must go through Woodstock's planning commission and City Council before construction can begin, Skoien said he already is getting a tremendous response to the location, at Ridgewalk Parkway and I-575.

The center, which will have brand name factory outlet stores, is 50 percent committed before the final design is in, he said.

"I think it's a really good time to be in the outlet business," Skoien said. "It's the only place that shopping centers are being built, period."

Woodstock community development director Richard McLeod is less confident about the prospects for the development, originally proposed as an Avenues project. He said Woodstock has some retail spaces that remain empty, and he is concerned about adding more stores near the city, 10 miles away from the Town Center at Cobb regional mall.

"I don't know if this is the right project in the right place," McLeod said. "I'm concerned they're further saturating the market."

Metro Atlanta's retail vacancy rate was 10.4 percent in the second quarter, according to real estate services firm CoStar Group -- a total of 35.2 million square feet of vacant retail space. The outlet project is about 400,000 square feet, Skoien said, the equivalent of a Home Depot smaller than the Atlanta Edgewood Retail District.

This week, the Atlanta Regional Commission found the project to be in the best interests of the region.

Bud Leonard, a Woodstock city councilman, said he thinks the stores -- and the jobs they will bring -- would be a good addition.

"I think it will be the anchor for a lot of good commercial development up there," he said.

Skoien said he could not reveal what stores had signed on, but that such centers usually add 800 jobs. The last center Horizon opened, in Oklahoma City, had retailers such as Banana Republic, Brooks Brothers and Coach.

The Woodstock center would be due to open in 2013

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The Outlet Shoppes at Atlanta scheduled for early 2013