LR retail complex gets new manager

Firm aims to fill Crossings’ spaces

Flake and Kelley Commercial has taken over leasing and management of Shackleford Crossings Shopping Center and is hoping to increase it’s 81 percent occupancy rate by recruiting a local restaurant or pub and possibly a “value retailer” — a high-end merchant with discount prices unlike an outlet mall store.

The development anchored by J.C. Penney and Gordmans at the intersection of Interstate 430 and Shackleford Road was bought about four years ago by Shackleford Crossings Investors LLC. The limited liability company includes Invesco and The Retail Connection, both of Texas.

Irwin Partners and The Retail Connection previously handled the leasing and management of the 316,000-square-foot center. Flake and Kelley is a Little Rock firm.

Other notable tenants in the development include Babies R Us, Haverty’s Furniture, Jo Ann, Copeland’s of New Orleans, BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse, Cracker Barrel and Longhorn Steakhouse. Wal-Mart also is considered a part of Shackleford Crossings but owns its property and will not fall under Flake and Kelley’s purview.

Some 60,000 square feet, or about 19 percent, of the development is vacant — well over the national average, according to a report generated from 2014 data by the International Council of Shopping Centers and the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries. The groups found strong growth in the U.S. shopping center industry with year-over-year growth in occupancy rates, rents and

net operating income.

The data showed that shopping center occupancy rates averaged 92.7 percent at the end of last year’s fourth quarter, the highest since the second quarter of 2008. Rates were slightly higher for malls.

Occupancy percentages in the 90s are more on par, the 80s suggest room for improvement, but anything in the 70s should be a red flag

to owners, said Jeese Tron, spokesman for the International Council of Shopping Centers in New York.

Shackleford Crossings’ acquisition of new management is a positive for the property, Tron said.

“If there wasn’t any potential, they might stay away,” Tron said. “That they’re confident that they’re going to be adding tenants means they’ve done their homework on the region and they know that it’s attractive for retailers.”

The Retail Connection provides

services similar to those Flake and Kelley and is active in this market, but the Texas firm does not have the staff in Little Rock that local firms do. Hank Kelley, Flake and Kelley’s CEO, said a representative from his firm would be on site at Shackleford Crossings four to five days a week tending to tenants’ needs.

Flake and Kelley is the state’s only ChainLinks Retail Advisors affiliate; The Retail Connection also is an affiliate. ChainLinks is a nationwide network dedicated to retailonly

real estate services and commercial property brokering.

Traffic counts provided by Flake and Kelley show some 78,000 cars pass the property on I-430 each day. About 21,000 drive by on Shackleford.

“The restaurants are creating a tremendous draw at lunch and weekends,” Kelley said. “Many of our restaurants are in the top 10 in Little Rock in sales.”

“Our strength is in our local connections,” Kelley said.

The local firm hopes to nail down a regional or local restaurant such as Big Orange, Local Lime or Lost 40 Brewing that would complement the existing eateries.

“We’d like to bring some life into that area,” Kelley said. Flake and Kelley also will continue to recruit other national users, as well, he said.

Because the shopping center is within striking distance of two hospitals, it’s possible to recruit some health-services related tenants, he added. And rather than fill several smaller

spaces, two or more could be pieced together to fit the needs of a “junior”-size big-box retailer. Those users would fill about 10,000 square feet.