Atlanta—In a move to accelerate the marketplace’s continuing growth,
AmericasMart•Atlanta has purchased the former Grey-hound Lines terminal property
on Andrew Young International Boulevard and will undertake a two million square
foot expansion of its 6.2 million square foot wholesale trade mart complex,
noted John Portman, chairman, CEO and founder. The transaction was completed in
mid December, and preliminary design work has begun in preparation for an early
2005 groundbreaking. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
The Greyhound property acquisition follows an eight-year growth spiral for
AmericasMart•Atlanta, which houses the world’s largest single collection of area
rugs, consumer gifts, home furnishings and apparel goods, and which retailers
from every state and 80 countries attending its trade shows recognize as the
most important wholesale marketplace for their business, noted Portman. The
first phase of the existing center opened in 1961. The new structure will be
situated adjacent to AmericasMart Bldg. #2, the second and newest of the
complex’ three buildings, and will be fully integrated to the existing complex
in continuation of the marketplace’s one-roof design, noted Jeff Portman, the
Mart’s president and COO.
“The new, 21st-century building will integrate permanent showrooms and
exhibition halls offering extended ceiling heights, technology services and
amenities unseen in the trade show industry,” he added. “With this acquisition,”
continued Portman, “we are perfectly positioned to create a new business
environment that affords manufacturers and retailers a market experience that
continues to be unmatched in the U.S. and beyond. “The new building will capture
the ease and accessibility of our existing facilities in a design that takes its
inspiration from the innovative and imaginative products it will house,” he
explained.
AmericasMart Atlanta was launched in 1996 in a global repositioning and
rebranding of the former Atlanta Market Center to produce national market share
and industry dominance through a strategic mix of product selection and variety,
merchandise categorization, facilities integration and the infrastructural
advantages of on-site hotel and transportation facilities, and business
services. “We have executed the first phase of our vision,” said John Portman,
“to build the world’s largest department store for retailers.” Portman, who
launched an AmericasMart•Atlanta forerunner home furnishings trade show in 1957
and who has subsequently designed and engineered the complex’ 47-year evolution,
is doing the design for the new facility as well.
“This expansion advances and expands that vision to advance our growth as we
move from the confines of a challenging economy in which we have fared well, and
into the more robust business environment we see on the near horizon,” he said.
Key to AmericasMart• Atlanta’s continuing growth is the ongoing resurgence of
its furniture and home furnishings product category, in which demand for
showroom and exhibit hall space is high, noted Jeff Portman, and for which
increasing numbers of specialty retailers and designers are attending its
markets. Home furnishings and home accents will serve as an anchor category in
the new structure, which is scheduled to open sometime in early 2007. For more
information on AmericasMart•Atlanta, call 800/285-6278. —Louis Iannaco
