Abby Cox

With placemaking, flexibility and the ever-changing needs of retailers and consumers in mind, retail architects are more creative than ever when it comes to built environments. Retail spaces have changed dramatically over the past decade. Enclosed environments, once leading the trend in the industry, have been traded for open-air environments. Many properties that were once solely occupied by retail tenants now have multiple uses, including entertainment, office, multifamily and hotel. In a time when it’s tough to develop, smaller, convenience-oriented projects are dominant, with the redevelopment of regional properties a …

All types of purchasers, from private capital to institutional groups, want to take advantage of the property sector’s strong fundamentals. In JLL’s second-quarter “Retail Market Dynamics” report, “resilience” was the word used to describe the national retail investment landscape in the first half of 2025.  Transaction volume reached $28.5 billion, a 23 percent increase over the same period a year ago. The figure also outpaces the long-term historical average of $27.7 billion for the first two quarters of the year, according to the brokerage firm. The scope of data includes …

Atlanta’s next retail boom is being driven by Millennial demand. Developers and investors are witnessing a trend that Atlanta retail activity is quickly expanding to its outer suburbs, fueling a new chapter of growth for the market.  “There’s a lot of momentum and growth happening, not just in the city of Atlanta, but when you really start looking at the MSA as a whole,” says Michael Berk, vice president of SRS Real Estate Partners. “The thing about Georgia and Atlanta is there’s no natural boundary that will inhibit growth.” Berk …