Vacancies in Patton Creek cause concerns

Drive around the Patton Creek shopping center and you will see plenty of “for lease” signs plastered on storefronts.

There were at least 26 vacant spots in the shopping center as of early January, and at least one more business slated to move out in the coming months.

The increasing vacancies there are a concern for business owners, who would rather see the synergy that a full shopping center creates, but numerous tenants say they love the location and are thriving there.

“We’ve had great success in Patton Creek,” said Prudence Kauffman, the owner of the Dear Prudence women’s boutique clothing store, which opened in April of last year. She was hoping to move into a larger space in Patton Creek by the beginning of February, she said.

Scott Plummer of Retail Specialists, the leasing agent for Patton Creek, said more than 85 percent of the 491,000 square feet of leasable space in the open-air shopping center is occupied. That’s about average for this market, but maybe a little bit below, he said.

“A lot of our vacancies are small [spaces],” Plummer said.

There were about 45 businesses in Patton Creek in January. Spots formerly occupied by the Christmas Tree Shops and Ulta Beauty are some of the larger vacant spaces, but most of the primary locations in Patton Creek are full, Plummer said.

Those include the AMC movie theater, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Buy Buy Baby, Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Ross Dress For Less, DSW and Cost Plus World Market.

Some Hoover residents lament the construction of new shopping centers and tax breaks for developers when there are numerous vacancies in existing centers.

RENTAL RATES

Hoover City Administrator Allan Rice in the past has said vacancies in Patton Creek had more to do with the cost of rent, but Plummer and several tenants there say the rent is quite favorable compared to other shopping centers.

The idea that Patton Creek has high rents is false, Kauffman said.

People marketing the new Stadium Trace Village mixed-use center at the entrance to Trace Crossings tried to woo her to move there, but the rental rate they offered was double what she pays at Patton Creek, she said.

Mary Lou Kunka, the owner of the Lou Lou’s women’s clothing and accessory boutique, said she shopped around before deciding to open in Patton Creek five years ago. It had the cheapest rate of the centers she priced, and “it’s still cheaper than going anywhere else,” she said. “It’s still the best value — a great location.”

She and other business owners said their customers like the easy access from Interstate 459. Plus, the restaurants and movie theater in Patton Creek are thriving and bring in a lot of traffic, they said.

Mike Godette, the manager of the Panera Bread bakery and restaurant that moved from Patton Creek to The Shoppes at Hoover on the other side of John Hawkins Parkway last year, said the only reason Panera Bread moved was so it could add a drive-through. “We were killing it [in Patton Creek],” he said.

But the number of vacancies does raise some eyebrows among tenants.

When the 66-acre Patton Creek shopping center was sold from Patton Creek Holdings LLC to American Realty Capital — Retail Centers of America for $83.5 million in 2015, the center was 95 percent leased, according to Lincoln Property Company Southeast, which took over property management.

“It’s just been disappointing to see it go down like it has,” said Sandra Riley, owner of the Thimbles sewing shop. “Everybody feeds off everybody else.”

Riley said she’s concerned, but there’s not much she as a tenant can do about it.

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

One issue that made many tenants angry was an increase in fees when American Realty Capital bought the property in 2015, Riley said. The property value was reassessed and property taxes, insurance and common area maintenance fees that are passed along to tenants increased, Riley said.

Tenants particularly were upset that Lincoln Property tried to make the fee increases apply retroactively to the beginning of the year, she said.

She and some other tenants were able to get those pass-along fees reduced when they renegotiated their lease agreements, she said.

Donna Tippins, the owner of Mainstreet Monograms, said there were a lot of problems with the new property management company when it first took over, but the company made some personnel changes and she’s happy with it now. It’s easy to work with the property managers, and they’re very willing to negotiate with people, she said.

There are some issues with plumbing and leaks in some of the buildings, but she’s quite happy in Patton Creek overall, Tippins said. “I think it’s great. I just wish there weren’t so many empty spots.”

Riley said she doesn’t think the property manager and leasing agent are working closely enough with tenants. Her second three-year lease expires at the end of April, and she has tried reaching out to talk about it but has gotten no response, she said.

“It’s like they don’t even care,” she said. “Whatever they’re doing, they’re not doing something right because they’re not getting tenants.”

Kunka said she’s been in retail for 30 years, and businesses come and go for a variety of reasons. It’s not always the fault of the property owner, manager or leasing agent, she said. Sometimes, it’s just the cyclical nature of the retail industry, she said.

“Getting people to open up brick-and-mortar retail is incredibly hard right now,” she said.

REDEVELOPMENT, FILLING SPOTS 

Kunka said she has been excited to see the property manager try some creative things to drive more traffic to Patton Creek, such as a trick-or-treating event at Halloween and visit from Santa Claus at Christmas. “They’re trying to bring in more people and make the shopping center more attractive,” she said.

Kauffman said she’s glad the leasing agent is being selective about the types of businesses coming to Patton Creek. “They’re not leasing out spaces to vape shops and cash loan places,” she said. “They’re wanting to find good, solid things that complement the neighborhood.”

Plummer said he’s not at liberty to discuss a lot of details, but the property management company is considering redevelopment of certain parts of Patton Creek to help revive it.

His company, Retail Specialists, which took over leasing eight or nine months ago, also is getting aggressive with rental rates to try to get more spaces filled up and actively marketing the center at trade shows, he said. Patton Creek’s rental rates are “extremely reasonable compared to some in the Hoover market,” he said.

As usual, there are some limitations in business recruitment,Plummer said. They won’t be recruiting any discount clothing store because of Ross Dress For Less or sporting goods store because of Dick’s, he said.

Also, “we don’t want to get four clothing boutiques right next to each other and three go out of business,” he said. “Because then we’re just spinning our wheels.”

However, they would love to see more entertainment-oriented businesses, a furniture store, a florist, locally owned boutiques or specialty stores and a few more restaurants, he said.

Kunka said even though there are concerns about vacancy rates, “it’s still the right place to be. There’s no way I’d move.”