‘Tis the Season for Giving!
For it is in giving that we receive. –Francis of Assisi
Team Stirling Properties once again teamed up with Volunteers of America to participate in the Christmas Wish “Angel” Project. For the 7th year, our company donated Christmas gifts and other essential items to local families in need across our Gulf South region.
The annual Christmas Wish Project helped bring joy and holiday cheer to families and individuals who might not have had a Christmas this year. Through Volunteers of America (VOA), participating families submitted “wish list” gift items for each individual. The wishes were noted on paper angels and hung on the company Christmas tree where Stirling Properties and employees could select and grant them. In all, 11 families and more than 60 children, adults and seniors received Christmas gifts.
Stirling Properties’ Stewardship Committee organized the company-wide events by partnering with Volunteers of America in Greater New Orleans, Greater Baton Rouge and the Southeast to serve the New Orleans Northshore and Southshore, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and Mobile communities.
In addition to donating gifts to the Christmas Wish Project, Stirling Properties hosted its fourth annual Northpark Christmas Bazaar, Bake Sale & Raffle on Thursday, November 29th. Local vendors, as well as employees of the Northpark office complex sold baked goodies, crafts, jewelry, ornaments, artwork, beauty products and many other great gift items.
The Christmas Bazaar raised $3,000 which was also donated in full to Volunteers of America to assist more families in our area with emergency holiday needs.
Team Stirling Properties also held a ‘Tis The Season Day,’ where employees donated money for the opportunity to wear their favorite Stirling gear to work (or Saintsmas gear, of course!). The day raised $315 that will benefit the VOA Christmas Wish Project as well.
The Holiday Season is a time for gratitude, generosity and giving back to our region. Stirling Properties is committed to supporting the communities where we live and work, and we will continue to support local nonprofits, community groups and charitable organizations throughout the year and beyond.
Thank you to all of the vendors, donors and shoppers who made this project a huge success. On behalf or Stirling Properties, we wish you and yours a joyous Holiday Season and a Happy New Year!
For more information about Stirling’s Stewardship Committee, please visit our website or contact us by email at stewardship@stirlingprop.com.
“The Halo Effect” shines light on significance of physical stores
Brick-and-mortar stores have a bright future in the retail industry, and now we have data to prove it. We’ve heard the widely drawn-out debate of clicks vs. bricks—or the speculations that e-commerce will cause the demise of physical stores. However, according to a recent report by ICSC, “The Halo Effect: How Bricks Impact Clicks,” brick-and-mortar stores are essential to the success of retailers.
The “halo effect” is defined as the tendency for an impression created in one area to influence another. ICSC’s study, the largest of its kind, explores and quantifies how physical store locations impact a brand’s digital presence. Here are a few of its key findings:
- Opening one new physical store in a market results in an average 37% increase in overall traffic to that retailer’s website and increases its share of web traffic within that market by an average of 27%.
- The opposite is also true as web traffic tends to fall when stores close. In one case, the share of web traffic across the markets where a store closed declined up to 77%.
- For emerging brands, defined as those less than 10 years old, new store openings drive an average 45% increase in web traffic following a store opening. For comparison, established retailers experience an average 36% boost in web traffic.
These findings confirm the direct correlation between a retailers’ physical and digital presence. When retailers invest in brick-and-mortar stores, their online presence thrives. The opposite is also true: closing stores causes a drop in the share of web traffic.
Furthermore, the study shows that not only do physical retail locations drive digital engagement, but also positively impact brand perception and help to attract new customers. Markets where retailers have a physical presence perform better on brand health metrics (including awareness, consumer perceptions, and willingness to recommend) compared with national benchmarks.
Today’s digitally empowered, high-maintenance consumer expects convenience and choices in how, when, and where they shop. They want an assortment of options to make purchases—aka omnichannel buying. However, physical stores remain the dominant method for building, growing, and sustaining brands.
Physical stores allow shoppers the ability to see, feel, taste, and truly experience a brand or product that they’re buying. Engagement and social connection in a physical store also play a vital role in the satisfaction level of the consumer and overall experience. Most importantly, physical stores allow retailers the unrivaled opportunity to interact with consumers and gain in-depth data and insight far beyond what online shopping could ever allow.
In the retail game, successful stores are marrying e-commerce and physical components, giving consumers purchasing options like click-and-collect, click-and-ship, and showroom models, enhancing the brick-and-mortar shopping experience and boosting sales at physical stores.
So much so that many once pure-play online retailers are moving into brick-and-mortar stores. E-commerce retailers plan to open 850 physical stores across the U.S. in the next five years. Many online brands have already started a push for physical stores, including Warby Parker, Rent The Runway, Glossier, Adore Me, Allbirds, even giants like Amazon and Wayfair are realizing the importance of a brick-and-mortar retail strategy. Both new and established brands are investing in stores and transforming clicks into bricks.
Brick-and-mortar stores should be a part of any retail strategy because they drive web traffic, improve brand health, and encourage in-store shopping. Still, retailers must continue to evolve to be successful and stay relevant in today’s fast-paced landscape. Retailers that provide more in their stores than the opportunity to make purchases will likely flourish—from the home improvement store that offers DIY workshops to the athletic store that offers simulated sporting games.
So, physical stores do matter—and the findings of this report confirm that. As e-commerce sales continue to grow year over year, those retailers that adapt and create a true multi-channel experience, leveraging both the assets of physical and digital, will come out on top.
Thank you to ICSC for compiling this insightful report. Hardcore data can’t be disputed. The retail apocalypse is over; let’s move on to the Renaissance!
To read the entire report, click here.
Stirling Properties Celebrates Groundbreaking of Dana Incorporated Service and Assembly Center in Slidell, Louisiana
Marks 1st of industrial expansion efforts in Fremaux mixed-use development.
Pictured L to R: Michael Unrein, Dave Hunt, Craig Nichols, Ed Greif, Mayor Greg Cromer, Parish President Pat Brister, Don Shea, Councilman Val Vanney, Councilman Kenny Tamborella, Councilwoman Leslie Denham, Debe Levis, Townsend Underhill
Stirling Properties and St. Tammany Parish community leaders celebrate the groundbreaking of the new Dana Incorporated (NYSE: DAN) Service and Assembly Center at Fremaux Park in Slidell, Louisiana. A formal turning-of-the-dirt ceremony was held with Honorable Pat Brister, St. Tammany Parish President; Honorable Greg Cromer, Mayor of Slidell; Ed Greif, General Manager of Off-highway for the Americas with Dana Incorporated; Don Shea, CEO of East St. Tammany Chamber of Commerce; and Townsend Underhill, President of Development with Stirling Properties. Fremaux Park is the mixed-use property surrounding the Fremaux Town Center retail development.
Stirling Properties is developing the nearly 32,000-square-foot industrial facility located at the corner of Town Center Parkway and Old Spanish Trail for Dana. The new site will house the relocation and expansion of its service and assembly center, which specializes in repairing and refurbishing large-scale industrial gearboxes. The company’s current operations in Slidell will transition to the larger facility to meet the growing demand for industrial gearbox service, repair, and refurbishment.
Construction on the site began in November and is expected to be completed in the summer of 2019. Bradley Cook, Sales & Leasing Executive with Stirling Properties, worked with the company to identify and secure the location.
Bradley Cook, Debe Levis, Marc Bourgeois, Billie Semmes, Townsend Underhill, Cher Levis Hunt, Dick Cyr, Patrick Malik
Dana is a world leader in highly engineered solutions for improving the efficiency, performance, and sustainability of powered vehicles and machinery. Dana supports the passenger vehicle, commercial truck, and off-highway markets, as well as industrial and stationary equipment applications. Founded in 1904, Dana employs more than 30,000 people in 33 countries on six continents.
“Dana in Slidell has a highly experienced team of service and repair professionals who are committed to meeting the needs of our customers,” said Dave Hunt, director of service and manufacturing operations for Dana Off-highway Drive and Motion Technologies. “This new facility will grow our service and repair business, while expanding our capabilities to manufacture gears on-site, reducing lead times for our customers.”
“A project of this scope—with projected growth to double in size and employment—this is a tremendous opportunity for Slidell and the entire parish,” said Greg Cromer, Mayor of Slidell. “Fremaux Park is a great development with retail, residential, and business all combined. It’s what we want to do—live, work, and play in one place. This is exactly how we want to grow our community, and this is how we are going to do it. We thank Dana for helping to lift up our community and becoming a good corporate partner, and we look forward to a long relationship with them.”
“I want to thank Dana Incorporated for choosing Slidell — and St. Tammany Parish, to locate this facility. We know you have a choice and we appreciate you choosing us. We look forward to the economic invigoration and diversity this facility will spur,” said Pat Brister, St. Tammany Parish President. “We appreciate the upcoming employment opportunities for our educated and ready workforce. We look forward to a good working relationship with Dana.”
“Stirling Properties is thrilled to welcome Dana to Fremaux Park and celebrate the groundbreaking of this site,” said Townsend Underhill, President of Development with Stirling Properties. “This is a huge economic win for Slidell and the surrounding greater New Orleans region. Dana is a world-wide company with a global footprint. This new facility will be a unique operation nationally—and the building was designed with ample flex space to allow for future expansion. We look forward to working with Dana and having them as an anchor tenant in the Fremaux Park development.”
Fremaux Park is part of the roughly 350-acre regional mixed-use development located at the southwest corner of Interstate 10 and Fremaux Avenue in Slidell, Louisiana. It includes Retreat at Fremaux Town Center’s 296 luxury residential apartment units, Saltgrass Steak House (coming soon), and Springhill Suites by Marriott soon under construction. Additional phases are coming soon with added residential, retail, industrial, and office park. The adjoining Fremaux Town Center, anchored by Dillard’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Kohl’s, and Best Buy, includes more than 640,000 square feet of retail and restaurant options.
For leasing or sales information, contact Ryan Pécot at 337.572.0246 / rpecot@stirlingprop.com or Bradley Cook at 985.246.3720 / bcook@stirlingprop.com.
Excitement Grows As The Fort Moves To Completion
Congratulations to Angie McArthur & Jeff Barnes, leasing agents with Stirling Properties, on the launch of the new container park in Spanish Fort Town Center!
Stirling Properties is so excited, we can’t CONTAIN it! The Fort, a new container park coming to Spanish Fort Town Center, is 100% leased and on-track to open in December. An official opening date and grand opening festivities will be announced soon.
Upon completion, The Fort will consist of approximately eight shipping containers that will be repurposed and transformed into functioning restaurants and shops, and will share a common open-air environment where patrons can sit and dine.
All tenants in the container park have been secured, including Beakers Coffee/Sno Biz, Blues Burger, Deuce Coop, Dickey’s Barbeque Pit, Dragonfly Taco Bar, Happy Pizza, Soul Bowlz, and Tap Station. There will also be a retailer on-site stocked with “The Fort” official merchandise.
Last month, The Spanish Fort City Council approved the new development as an entertainment district, allowing patrons over the age of 21 to openly carry alcoholic beverages outdoors. This is a significant designation for The Fort, making it easier for visitors to move freely through the shared space of restaurants and shops.
Property owners, Dallas-based Cypress Equities, broke ground on the container park in September and the containers arrived on site in October. The Fort was initially expected to open in November of 2018, but construction delays due to inclement weather have pushed the opening back to December.
Angie McArthur, Broker Associate, and Jeff Barnes, Senior Investment Advisor/Broker Associate with Stirling Properties, serve as the leasing team for Cypress Equities and have been working with the overall Spanish Fort Town Center project since 2015.
“The addition of such an innovative concept has already created a new wave of energy and anticipation for Spanish Fort Town Center,” said McArthur. “And all of the excitement around The Fort has translated to new leases within the retail center. It’s thrilling to see the momentum of this project moving into the new year—and as a result, we look forward to welcoming new tenants to the space very soon!”
Spanish Fort Town Center, anchored by Bass Pro Shops, Kohl’s, and JCPenney, is a 230-acre premier master-planned development located at the intersection of Interstate 10 and U.S. Highway 98 in Baldwin County. The center includes 450,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, an apartment community, hotels, banks, and entertainment options.
Over the last year, Stirling Properties has helped to successfully secure more than 44,000 square feet of new leases for the retail center, adding Urban Air Trampoline and Adventure Park, Beauty World (currently under construction next to Kohl’s), Direct Furniture, Oishi Japanese Bar & Grill, and Tots2Teens Fun Salon to the diverse tenant lineup. McArthur and Barnes are also currently in negotiations with various retailers that will add another 30,000 square feet of shopping and dining options to the center.
In conjunction with the new container park, Spanish Fort Town Center is also launching “The Village,” a unique boutique retail concept that will consist of small and specialty shops such as food options, fitness providers, clothing, gifts, candles, accessories, and salon services. Spanish Fort Village will deliver a pedestrian- and family-friendly, urban environment unlike anything else in the market area. Leasing for space is currently underway. These units are located across from Urban Air Trampoline and Adventure Park and The Fort.
For Spanish Fort Town Center leasing & sales information, contact Jeff Barnes, CCIM, at (251) 375-2496 / jbarnes@stirlingprop.com or Angie McArthur at (251) 375-2481 / amcarthur@stirlingprop.com.
Come Celebrate Christmas at the Square!
Tis’ the season to celebrate! Join us at Hammond Square for the 6th Annual Christmas at the Square celebration in Hammond, Louisiana, on Saturday, December 8th from 10am-12pm. This FREE event is open to the public and a holly jolly time for all ages!
Santa and Mrs. Claus will be in attendance to help spread the holiday cheer. The celebration will feature a petting zoo, pony rides, face painting, a caricature artist, a live radio remote with Cajun 107.1 and more.
During the event, Hammond Square will also be collecting personal care items for Our Friends Closet, a community based nonprofit organization that provides hygiene and personal care products to low income, homeless and unaccompanied students in need. Please help us make the holidays special for middle and high school students in Tangipahoa Parish by donating items such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, body wash, feminine products, laundry pods, face wipes, socks and more. Stop by Our Friends Closet’s booth to drop your items during the event!
So come out and celebrate Christmas at the Square with us…and Santa Claus! While you’re there, don’t forget to visit Hammond Square’s great retail stores and restaurants for all your Christmas shopping and holiday needs.
Visit HammondSquare.com or “like” us on facebook.com/hammondsquare for a complete list of retailers and events.
Hammond Square and Stirling Properties Celebrate Grand Opening of Hammond Square Self Storage
Ribbon cutting ceremony held with community leaders.
Hammond Square, Stirling Properties, the Greater Hammond Chamber of Commerce, and Hammond area community leaders celebrated the Grand Opening of Hammond Square Self Storage. A formal ribbon-cutting ceremony was held with Hammond Mayor Pete Panepinto; Grady Brame, Executive Vice President with Stirling Properties; Jimmy Maurin, founder of Stirling Properties; and Julie Perise, Member Relations Director with Greater Hammond Chamber of Commerce. We would like to give a special thanks to Michael Brumfield, CEO of State Bank & Trust, who served as the lender for the project.
Pictured L to R: Grady Brame, Jimmy Maurin, Bobby Maurin, Mayor Pete Panepinto, Traci Hursey, Sara Simms, Townsend Underhill, Kyle Kent, Brian McLawchlin, Mac Bauer, Ginger Cangelosi, and Lindsey Palmer
Hammond Square Self Storage is a 93,902-square-foot self-storage facility located just off the corner of US Highway 51 (SW Railroad Avenue) and West Minnesota Park Road. The facility is comprised of 626 climate-controlled units and 15 RV / boat storage units, all with gated access. The 3-story building provides extra security and state-of-the-art amenities. Units are currently available for lease with sizes ranging from 5 x 5 feet to 10 x 30 feet. Stirling Properties developed the facility and will handle daily management.
Stirling Properties has been at the forefront of commercial real estate investment and development in Hammond and surrounding areas of Southeast Louisiana for more than 43 years. Tangipahoa Parish is experiencing significant growth, creating a high demand for self-storage services. Hammond Square Self Storage’s strategic location near Hammond Square retail center and I-12 will provide easy access and convenience for customers.
“We are thrilled to welcome everyone to Hammond Square Self Storage, Hammond’s newest storage facility. As you look around this impressive, state-of-the-art building, you can clearly see how far storage facilities have evolved. Hammond Square Self Storage will be a great amenity to serve the growing population of Tangipahoa Parish,” said Maurin.
“Stirling Properties is excited to officially celebrate the grand opening of Hammond Square Self Storage. This project was our first ground-up, climate-controlled storage development, and we are extremely proud of this facility,” said Brame. “We are grateful for the continued cooperation of the City of Hammond and other local area officials who helped us bring this to fruition. And we truly thank the residents of Hammond and surrounding areas of Tangipahoa Parish who support Hammond Square. We are confident that this new storage facility will be a great addition to the property.”
Stirling Properties also redeveloped the neighboring Hammond Square shopping center, located on the northwest corner of Interstate 12 and Hwy. 51 (SW Railroad Ave.) in Hammond, LA. It is the 2nd largest open-air retail center in Louisiana encompassing 902,000 square feet of more than 40 national and local retailers, shops and restaurants, including Dillard’s, Target, The Home Depot, JCPenney, Academy Sports+Outdoors, AMC Theatres, and Old Navy (coming soon).
For more information on Hammond Square Self Storage or leasing inquiries, visit www.hammondsquareselfstorage.com.
Open House – Saturday, August 3rd, for Arabella at Dutchtown […]
