Posted Jun 1, 2007, 1:09 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Oakland, CA
Posts: 427
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Hot new store for Hotlanta
Atlanta Business Chronicle - June 1, 2007by Jill Lerner FriedmanStaff writer
Swedish retailer H&M is coming to Atlanta.
The hip, inexpensive clothing purveyor is finalizing a deal to open its first metro store at Atlantic Station.
H&M has 1,400 stores in 28 countries and entered the United States in 2000 with a location on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Most of its 118 domestic stores are on the East Coast, although in 2005 the retailer opened its first units on the West Coast in San Francisco.
The Atlantic Station store, expected to open in 2008, will be the first H&M south of Virginia.
"I think H&M is one of the most sought-after retailers in the country right now -- really, in the world," said David Birnbrey, chairman and co-CEO of Atlanta-based The Shopping Center Group LLC, a leading retail real estate brokerage. Birnbrey credited the retailer with being "fashion-forward while still remaining a great value."
The store offers clothing for women, men, children and teenagers and is known for its celebrity-inspired lines tied to such stars as Madonna and Australian pop star Kylie Minogue.
Atlantic Station and H&M representatives said no lease has been signed and would not confirm the impending deal. But several sources said the Swedish retailer is finalizing its agreement. H&M is expected to take the entire second floor above home furnishing and card store Metropolitan Deluxe, across Market Street from Dillard's.
The 138-acre Atlantic Station also is home to the first IKEA home furnishings in the Southeast.
IKEA spokesman Joseph Roth said the company was "thrilled with the reception afforded us in Atlanta and very pleased with our location."
The deal for the hotly sought-after H&M is a huge "get" for Atlantic Station and Jones Lang LaSalle Inc., which handles the management, leasing and construction management of Atlantic Station's retail component.
Birnbrey called the deal a "major milestone" for Atlantic Station.
"You could say it enhances Atlantic Station's efforts to validate itself as a shopping destination offering more than just the typical retailers you see in other destinations," he said.
H&M's site choice also burnishes Midtown's growing reputation as a shopping destination.
In addition to the 1.5 million square feet of retail, restaurants and entertainment venues at Atlantic Station, developers involved in the "Midtown Mile" are planning more than 1 million square feet of existing and proposed retail along 14 contiguous blocks of Peachtree from North Avenue to 15th Street.
The biggest single contributor to the Midtown Mile is the mixed-use 12th & Midtown, which calls for hundreds of thousands of square feet of retail in what project executives say will be Atlanta's first flagship shopping destination.
12th & Midtown is being developed by Daniel Corp.; Selig Enterprises Inc.; Earvin "Magic" Johnson's real estate investment firm, Canyon Johnson Urban Fund L.P.; and MetLife Inc.
Officials say the project's retail will consist of multilevel flagship stores on Peachtree and smaller, eclectic retailers and restaurants on surrounding streets.
The first phase, under construction, calls for up to 50,000 square feet of retail.
Developers Tishman Speyer and Jamestown are also expected to reposition the retail in their buildings along the Midtown Mile, Colony Square and 999 Peachtree, respectively.
A prominent developer in Buckhead is also trying to lure first-of-its-kind retail to his project.
The first phase of Ben Carter Properties LLC's $850 million Buckhead Village redevelopment, Buckhead Avenues, calls for 350,000 square feet of retail space. Chairman Ben Carter said he expects to attract luxury retailers, trendy retailers and boutique retailers.
Demolition of Buckhead Village is set to begin in September.
Neither project has announced retail tenants.
H&M was considered a big prize, however several other "first-to-Atlanta" retail concepts, many also foreign-based, remain up for grabs.
Among the top concepts being courted nationally, said Birnbrey, are Zara, a trendy apparel concept from Spain; UNIQLO, sort of the "Gap" of Japan; and Mango, also a hip apparel retailer headquartered in Spain.
Another popular "get" is the United Kingdom-based Tesco Plc, a discount department store in the vein of a Wal-Mart or Target. None of the companies has a presence in Atlanta.
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. We elected a board. We were also given an update about future leases including the H&M and also a daycare on top of Pier 1 with a rooftop playground for the kiddies. Also, they will be installing new lighting in the parking deck to brighten up the dungeon. Also,the hiring of additional security. The lights are out around the Element because of a payment dispute with Lane Co. (figures) but AS said they are going to turn them on soon and just bill Lane. And regarding the flashing yellow light at Mecaslin and 17th. Someone cut the wire underground 
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