Town Brookhaven signs up tenants

By Rachel Tobin Ramos

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

At a time when big box stores are slowing growth or closing up— witness the failure of the Circuit City and Linens ’N Things chains — four anchor tenants have agreed to populate Town Brookhaven.

Costco, Publix, LA Fitness and CinéBistro signed 20-year leases for the Sembler Co. project near Buckhead — a rarity since the economy pulled up on the reins last fall.

But these retailers are different, either because they are capitalizing on the largest trade-down in retail history like Publix and Costco, or because they are still in expansion mode, like LA Fitness and CinéBistro, said retail expert Greg Maloney.

“Those types of retailers are very optimistic about the future and really have weathered the storm very well over the last 18 months,” said Maloney, who heads the retail division of Jones Lang LaSalle, a real estate services firm.

Original plans for Town Brookhaven called for an upscale grocer and a home improvement retailer, but those sectors have been hard hit by the downturn.

Instead, Jeff Fuqua, president of Sembler, said he lured retailers that are surviving, if not thriving, in this economy, like bulk warehouse retailer Costco and grocer Publix. Brookhaven will be the most urban Atlanta location for Costco, which didn’t open another Georgia store in the past year.

By contrast, CinéBistro, run by Alabama-based Cobb Theatres, and LA Fitness, from Irvine, Calif., are in expansion mode. CinéBistro has only two locations, both in Florida, but is expanding with six outposts, including two in Georgia.

LA Fitness has been the darling of the Atlanta real estate community recently because the gym can take former big-box spaces and has been expanding aggressively to more than 20 gyms in metro Atlanta.