HUNTSVILLE — The inaugural ICSC Huntsville local event featured a heavyweight panel of development professionals Thursday.
Moderated by Wesley Crunkleton of Crunkleton Commercial Real Estate, the panel featured Shane Davis, the city of Huntsville director of economic development; Yunus Hasan, CEO of HX Concepts; Mitchell Rutter, CEO of Essex Capital and co-developer of Front Row; and Justin Stein, executive vice president of leasing for Tanger, which purchased Huntsville’s Bridge Street Town Centre last year.
Previously known as the International Council of Shopping Centers, the ICSC works to promote marketplaces and spaces where people shop, dine, work, play, and gather. The membership organization also hosts local events such as Thursday’s at the 106 Jefferson Hotel in downtown Huntsville.
Anusha Alapati Davis, vice president of retail at Crunkleton, said hosting an ICSC event in the Rocket City shows how much the market continues to grow.
“The turnout was incredible,” said Alapati Davis. “And if you look at the crowd, about half the attendees are from out of town. That’s a lot of people coming to see what’s going on in our city.”
ICSC local events facilitate information sharing among local marketplaces and industry professionals.
Opening the panel, Crunkleton remarked on the extraordinary growth of Huntsville.
“We’ve seen an amazing amount of growth. I think our population increased by over 8% in 2020,” said Crunkleton. “The biggest piece of that is we’re starting to see the millennials in this town.”
Addressing Front Row co-developer Mitchell Rutter, Crunkleton asked what drew them to Huntsville.
“We did the research. We had economists give us the metrics. We then came here and obviously, like new developers, we validated it all,” said Rutter. “But this is a $220 million job, and this is an institutional job.”
Front Row’s $220 million first phase, in the heart of Huntsville’s evolving downtown core, is one of the largest and most highly anticipated projects in the Southeast.
The 11-acre mixed-use development on the former Coca-Cola bottling plant site across from the Von Braun Center will include 545 high-end residential units, a river walk, office space, and retail space.
The developers, Rutter and development partner Dan Shields, are from New York with an impressive list of developments in Hudson Yards, Times Square and elsewhere. But Rutter said they’re enjoying being here and being partners in Huntsville’s growth.
“We’re trying very hard to be part of the community. I’d like to say that when I started, my drink of choice was gin and now it’s bourbon,” joked Rutter.
Huntsville’s economic boom and accompanying growth didn’t happen overnight, according to Davis.
“So, in 2008 the country had sequestration, we had the recession,” Davis said. “And, at that time, the government was 73% of our income. Our GDP was dependent on something getting sent to Redstone then getting it back from Research Park.”
Davis credits the city’s leadership for changing course.
“We put our heads down. We really started to market the city in a different way than we ever had,” he said.
Since 2008, billions of dollars have been invested and tens of thousands of jobs have been created in Alabama’s now-largest city.
Rutter praised Huntsville’s leadership and vision, saying the city already had a plan when they first met about the property in 2018.
“They had a 10-year vision to create an expansion of the downtown core,” he said.
The city of Huntsville is a good partner according to Rutter.
“Huntsville is, I would say, a reasonable yes,” he said. “They’re not just handing you goodies but, if they see that you’re sincere, it’s a reasonable yes.”
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