The centers are being built at a 52-acre, master-planned business park. Chrysler Group has signed a seven-year lease for 14,160 sq ft, and Nissan North America has signed a 10-year lease for a new 25,740-sq-ft training center, says Jason Nunley, vice president of development for Jackson-Shaw.

Tenants “will continue selecting high-quality projects regardless of the overall market conditions—which means there is always demand by large, multinational companies, such as Chrysler and Nissan, for fundamentally sound projects.”

Lagging Retail

Retail remains in the doldrums this fall, with few major retail development projects under way. An exception is Forest City's mixed-use, Yonkers, N.Y.-based retail development, an $842-million, 1.3-million-sq-ft project anchored by a Lord & Taylor department store. “There is not much activity at all in retail,” says Linton. “This project is one of the few … in the country.”

Forging into retail ventures now requires fortitude and the right opportunity, developers say, as exemplified by Chicago-based developer Cullinan Properties' reinvigorated the “Streets of Saint Charles” development project, located at St. Charles, Mo.

The $385-million project, which includes 100,000 sq ft of retail space, was held up for two years as lending dried up. However, it is now back on schedule for a mid-2012 completion, says Rob Wetherald, Cullinan development director.

“We kept this on track when other companies would have folded up their tents,” he says.

Another example of retail development is Costa Mesa, Ariz.-based developer Donahue Schriber's ambitious plan to construct a 23,600-sq-ft retail center in Rocklin, Calif. Rocklin's town council approved the development in October despite no pre-leased tenants. The project is set to break ground this fall.

The project, which will develop a five-acre parcel with four retail buildings, “was delayed by the economy, but it's time to start moving on it,” says Jan Peterson, vice president of development for Donahue Schriber.

“We are certainly not trying to 'build it and they will come,' but we are actively soliciting tenants' interest,” she says. n