Retailers are still in right-sizing mode. (It should be called "Goldilocksing.") However, some are finally beefing up store counts in Atlanta.

SRS's Ray Uttenhove, here with partner Kyle Stonis, tells us a lack of development is giving retailers a hard time finding just the right space. (Though if this weather stays this cold, they'll take anything just to get inside.) And that will give developers incentive to redevelop older centers. “The new retail has got to have an experience factor to it,” she says, like North American Properties' Avalon project. And with retailers like Sprouts seeking sites in Atlanta, that may prompt more developers to take action.

Kyle sold $135M in retail buildings this past year throughout the Southeast, as investors got hungry for better returns. Most recently, he assisted an affiliate of Cypress Equities in buying a 450k SF power center in Smyrna, Tenn., called Colonial TownPark Shopping Center for $28M. Ray and SRS's Pierce Mayson and Scott Tiernan also brokered the sale.