Shoppes at Redstone Square, Huntsville, Alabama (Madison, Berry: school, contractor, utilities)

[NoleFanHSV]

Originally Posted by cooldiver

Keeping in mind that Huntsville has not really built up that much residential yet in the west end of the county, many of Madison's shopping venues are not convenient to Huntsville residents. The exception may be the folks who live in Huntsville west of Redstone Arsenal and south of I-565.

Huntsville has the lion's share of shopping and sales tax dollars in the area. Huntsville has been very effective at annexing most of the attractive areas for commercial development, particularly along the US 72 corridor. Commercial real estate taxes and sales taxes are what pay the bills for cities in this state.

So Madison does need its residents to "Shop Madison First" when they can. Lowe's is in Madison, Home Depot is in Huntsville. There will be three Kroger stores in the immediate area of Madison, but only the Wall Triana store is in Madison. The new Walmart on US 72 near CLR is in Huntsville, though it is much nicer than the Madison Walmart on Madison Boulevard.

So why didn't Madison leaders get on the ball and the land?

[cooldiver]

Originally Posted by NoleFanHSV

So why didn't Madison leaders get on the ball and the land?

Dallas Fanning pretty much outfoxed the whole bunch:

Remembering Dallas Fanning: The man who made modern Huntsville | AL.com

The residential developers drove much of Madison's planning, but Dallas knew that sales tax money is what pays the bills.

[Coogan]

Originally Posted by cooldiver

I wonder if this new Publix will put the kibosh on the rumored new Publix at Town Madison. And then the existing Publix on Madison Blvd would remain.

I would presume the answers to be Yes to the former and No to the latter.

[Carolina Knight]

I would not be surprised if Publix opens stores at both Shoppes at Redstone Square and Town Madison.

[Big Grumpy]

CK - I suspect Publix keeps the store at Madison Centre since they purchased the entire shopping complex in March of last year. No real reason to move over to Town Madison and lease space when you own the space where you currently are. Second, I think the focus on Town Madison for the forseeable future will be on the Intergraph side rather than the Zierdt side.

[cooldiver]

Originally Posted by Big Grumpy

CK - I suspect Publix keeps the store at Madison Centre since they purchased the entire shopping complex in March of last year. No real reason to move over to Town Madison and lease space when you own the space where you currently are. Second, I think the focus on Town Madison for the forseeable future will be on the Intergraph side rather than the Zierdt side.

Interesting stuff.

I just thought that with a new store going in further south on Zierdt Road, Publix would prefer to keep the existing store on the north side of Madison Boulevard and I-565.

I am really starting to think Town Madison is 5-10 years too late to market, and will end up being mostly high-density residential with just a smattering of commercial. In the era where the big box stores are shrinking, it's hard to imagine what could go in there. Maybe the Madison Walmart moves there. If Penney's hasn't given up on our market, maybe Penney's but I expect they would demand a large subsidy from the city just like Target did.

Breland is a smart guy and may yet prove me wrong, but the silence is deafening.

[Big Grumpy]

cooldiver - I actually mapped the straight line distance between the Madison area Publix stores and all five would fit in a 5 mile radius circle of the Madison Blvd store. In fact the County Line Publix and Hwy 72 Publix are the exact same distance apart as the new one at Zierdt/Martin will be from the Madison Blvd one (3 miles). The store at Madison Blvd will still draw from the apartments and neighborhoods to the south of it and to the west of it and probably will continue to draw from the neighborhoods and apartments along Slaughter. They will lose customers south of Mountainbrook on Zierdt and Martin at that store but will pick those folks up at the new store. It's a win for Publix overall even if they take a hit at the existing Madison Blvd store.

I'm beginning to have my doubts about Town Madison as well. This is not something that Louis Breland has undertaken before and as you noted the continued silence is deafening. At the end of the summer, we will be three years out from the original groundbreaking of fall '14 and there very likely won't be a single building standing. We were also told last summer when Semblar bowed out that a site plan would be available in the fall and it still hasn't materialized six months later. That's concerning on several fronts.

As far as what might locate there, it's a crapshoot even trying to come up with any names. I would guess that a home improvement store (Lowes or Home Depot) would do extremely well there. Target could be a possibility as well. Those stores obviously aren't on the upscale order people are expecting, but that might be the type of retail that goes in there ultimately. I think you might see some restaurants like a Chili's, Longhorn, Chipolte, or something of that nature. Maybe a Rosie's Cantina? As you noted, this development is late to market and getting later and probably losing retail/dining options because of the slowness. If a restaurant chooses to go into The Shoppes at Redstone Square then it's probably not going to have a presence at Town Madison. I think the outparcels at TSARS will be a hot commodity for restaurants trying to get a piece of the Redstone traffic for lunch/dinner and that development will build out faster than TM will.

[bmrisko]

According to a manager at the Madison Blvd Publix, they get the majority of their business from business folks flying in and staying around the airport or travelling to Research Park.

The rest seem to come from the surrounding apartment complexes...

[Carolina Knight]

Originally Posted by Big Grumpy

CK - I suspect Publix keeps the store at Madison Centre since they purchased the entire shopping complex in March of last year. No real reason to move over to Town Madison and lease space when you own the space where you currently are. Second, I think the focus on Town Madison for the foreseeable future will be on the Intergraph side rather than the Zierdt side.

Publix has been active acquiring retail centers where its stores operate. I project acquisitions will continue.

[Dirt Grinder]

Originally Posted by Carolina Knight

...I project acquisitions will continue.

Oh, do you now?