Giant retail landlord Simon Property Group is developing an outlet shopping center, a format that's found favor with cost-conscious consumers. It's set to follow another that Simon opened in the United States last year.
The Indianapolis-based real estate investment trust, the largest mall owner in the nation, will be constructing a roughly 325,000-square-foot mixed-use center in Thompson's Station, Tennessee, at 1733 Lewisburg Pike at the intersection of Interstates 65 and 840, the company said Wednesday. The REIT has entered into an agreement to purchase the site in metropolitan Nashville where it will develop Nashville Premium Outlets.
Construction is expected to start next year. The preliminary plans include roughly 75 retailers, restaurants and a hotel, with the potential to add housing and big-box retailers, according to Simon.
Traditional malls have been challenged as shoppers change their habits and cut spending, forcing retail landlords to change with the times, and Simon is no exception. It is redeveloping and adding new uses to its malls, like multifamily housing and hospitality uses, to increase foot traffic. Simon is also investing in its outlets, which feature stores that sell discounted goods from individual brands, appealing to price-conscious shoppers.
The REIT is expanding its flagship outlet center at 498 Red Apple Court in Woodbury Common Premium Outlets in Central Valley, New York, adding stores and a hotel. And it debuted a new center, Tulsa Premium Outlets at 801 E. Outlet Drive in Jenks, Oklahoma, in August last year. Globally, Simon expanded and revitalized its Busan Premium Outlets in South Korea last September, according to a company spokeswoman.
The REIT announced plans to develop the outlet centers in Tulsa and Nashville in June 2022, as well as one in Carson, California. At that time, Simon said the Nashville outlets would be located in the market’s southern high-income area, “capitalizing on the region’s phenomenal growth, and will complement Simon’s existing, highly successful, local properties, The Mall at Green Hills and Opry Mills.”
The California project got derailed last year when Simon and its partner Macerich scrapped plans for the development in a dispute with the city of Carson.
The mall owner is collaborating on the project with Nashville-based Adventurous Journeys Capital Partners.
Gary Duncan, Simon's president of Premium Outlets and The Mills, described Nashville as "one of our country's most dynamic and fastest-growing markets."