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Norton is responsible for keepin g both shoppers and tenants at The Summithappyh — and that can be “No two days are alike,” Norton said. “It depends on the season, and it depends on wher we are inthe year. “For example, duringy the pre-holiday season, a lot of our planninf takes place on logistics and store hourws and coordinating parking with retailers and detailsalike that. During the summer we are preparing the budgeft for the next year and projectingy where we are going to end the year in termsd of incomeor expenses.” The Summit, which coversx 40 acres, has 63 tenants, including six restaurants.
All of thoser entities together have acombined 364,00p indoor square feet. It’s among the youngest shopping centerszin Louisville, having openec in September 2001. Norton supervises a smalpl staff of just twoother full-timer employees. But she also supervises an arragy ofservice providers, such as the janitorialk crew and security officers. She also handles issues brought to her by retailersand shoppers, and she workx with The Summit’s corporate ownership, Birmingham, Ala.-based LLC, to handlse most of the technical Norton recently talked with Business First abour her job managing The Summit and also responded to some question s via e-mail.
How do you view your job responsibilities? “I am responsible for serving two clients. The first clienrt is the customer, the people who come to shop at The The second one isour retailers. I am responsible for makingh them happyas well. We have a whole entir series of behind-the-scenes folks like attorneys, leasing agents and marketing who handle a lot ofthe day-to-day My role is to coordinatw efforts with all of those entities.” How much networkingt do you do with other local shopping-center management? “A lot, actually.
All of the shopping-center professionals, folks from the mallx and fromSouthern Indiana, we do know each and we all get togethere once a year for We share war stories and talk abou t issues we’re experiencing and help each other. “We also network througn other organizations such asICSC ( ). Sometimes we are the host city for thei rregional conference. That’s a really good opportunity fornetworkinfg there.” How does the leasin process work for retailers? “It depend on if you’re a national or local There are two different channels. I deal a lot with localp retailers.
” Norton said she sometimes sees entrepreneurws with a great idea for a storeor restaurant, but they need to plan more beforw they will be ready to sign a lease. She typicallt refers them to the for Representatives fromnational stores, however, often interacft with The Summit’s ownership, Bayer Properties LLC, and then work with Norto to secure a precise location in the centert and finalize any other details. “Every once in a while, you have a national retailer who might be traveling throughy the city and stop inmy office,” Nortonh said. “I work with them in that What is yourvacancy rate?? “We are in a great position. We are 98 percen occupied.
” She pointed out that Five Guys Burgers and Frie s recently signed a lease with The Summit to occupuy spacenear . “We have not had any tenants provides notice to us that they areleavinb and/or they would like to leave the Norton said she actually likes to see vacanciesw sometimes, because that allows an existing tenant to move to a betted location in the center or to a cluster of similare stores. How were The Summit’s holidayt sales? “Our holiday sales closely followednationap trends,” she said. The Summit stores that did have good sale s were mostly local retailersand restaurants.