Having just leased out three, brand-new retail spaces at The Place on Ponce in Downtown Decatur, Redstone Properties President, Lyle Fogarty, may currently have one of the best vantage points to report on the state of the city’s retail real estate market.

In a recent press release, Mr. Fogarty noted that “The demand for retail space in Decatur was greater than we projected,” He continued, “It is clear that restaurant owners and retailers recognize the uniqueness of the area and its value.”

I was curious for find out a bit more detail as to what this demand looked like, so I followed up.  His response should be quite interesting to many of you who like to follow and offer predictions on Decatur commercial real estate trends.

We simply had demand from many more tenants than the 10,000 sf of space could accommodate.  By far, the most demand came from restaurants.  We could have filled up 30,000 sf with restaurants if we had the space (and parking).

There was some demand for soft goods and apparel, but many of those retailers like to congregate together and need more critical mass to help them be successful.  If a location could be identified in Downtown where a developer could build 50,000 or more square feet of modern retail space, there’s sufficient demand from shop tenants to make a vibrant retail district in Downtown in addition to the renowned restaurant scene.

So basically, even though the restaurant market may already seem pretty saturated in Decatur, it sounds like we shouldn’t expect it to ease up anytime soon.  Also, for those expecting a greater variety of clothing stores in the city, you may need to wait for a very large project to come in and provide the necessary space to allow a “critical mass”.

I guess we’ll have to wait and see if any of the current projects in development (Arlo, Alexan Decatur residential only!) or planned (Calloway, Avondale MARTA Station) will make a move in this direction.