Cousins Properties will no longer be in charge of leasing remaining retail spaces for Emory Point, the mixed-use residential-retail complex located on Clifton Road.
The real estate group that brought the General Muir, Sweet Monkey, Lizard Thicket and 20 other retailers to the new off-campus stomping grounds, last week decided to outsource the sales of their remaining retail spaces to a separate real estate firm, Vantage Realty Partners, according to a press release from the company.
While Cousins will still be the owner of the properties and will continue to manage the 443 residential spaces there, Vantage will come in as a third-party liaison between any new retail negotiations and Cousins.
"New retailers, businesses and restaurants will just be dealing with us, but everything else will remain the same," said Brittany McCall, an associate at Vantage who handles all of their mixed-use developments, like Emory Point.
Now in charge of filling the remaining 8,000 square feet of retail in Emory Point, Vantage is planning on taking a thoughtful approach and is open to input from the community, McCall said.
"We don't want to throw someone in there just to have a group there," McCall said. "We really want it to be creative and add value to the area."
No deals have yet been solidified, but McCall said Vantage already has some ideas for the spaces, specifically athletic outlets like a sporting goods or apparel store, or a new fitness concept venue.
According to the press release, the decision by Cousins came as the company continues to shift its portfolio away from retail leasing to office tower developments, including a recent $1.1 billion property purchase in Texas.
Vantage is no stranger to bringing businesses into mixed-use developments.
In addition to Emory Point, the real estate firm also manages commercial leasing for four complexes in the Inman Park neighborhood, as well as locations in Castleberry Hill, West Midtown and Buckhead, according to McCall.
Goizueta Business School junior Jason Charles, a resident of Emory Point, said he would patronize a new sporting goods or apparel store but is skeptical that it would do well in the area.
"It doesn't really seem like any of the other apparel stores are doing better there," Charles said. "I think people would be more excited about a workout venue like CrossFit or yoga, rather than apparel."
The proximity of Emory Point to the Woodruff P.E. Center on campus, though, makes Nursing School junior Michelle Feldman, also an Emory Point resident, feel that a new workout space would not be successful. Instead, she said, she would prefer a Sephora and more mall stores.
"Our closest place to get anything is Lenox [Mall], and Lenox is a pain," Feldman said. "I'm running out of eyeliner, and eyeliner is so insignificant that I shouldn't have to drive 20 minutes for it."
As Phase II of construction Emory Point begins in mid-September, McCall said Vantage will also begin working on pre-leasing negotiations for an additional 40,000 square feet of retail space. Phase II should be complete in spring 2015.
Since opening last fall, Emory Point has become a destination for off-campus housing for upperclassmen. Emory Point also marked the first new construction development in the Emory area in 20 years, as well as the first time the two real estate powerhouses, Cousins and Gables Residential, worked in a partnership.
– By David Shortell
Photo by James Crissman
