Excerpted from Orlando Business Journal story.
Dollar General Corp.’s newer, smaller convenience concept is coming to downtown Orlando.
Goodlettsville, Tennessee-based Dollar General (NYSE: DG) plans to open its DGX concept at 50 S. Rosalind Ave. in the ground floor level of Modera Central, according to a building permit filed with the city of Orlando. Orlando Business Journal first reported Dollar General was searching for downtown locations to open its DGX concept. The convenience store likely will occupy 5,100 square feet.
Dollar General couldn’t be reached for comment. The permit lists construction costs as $410,000, or roughly $80 per square foot.
Orlando-based real estate firm Bishop Beale Duncan is handling leasing for the roughly 12,700 square feet of space at Pine Street and Rosalind Avenue. The space has been empty after the opening in fall 2018 of the $75 million, 350-unit Modera Central Class A apartment complex.
Only a handful of cities in the U.S. have a DGX, including Nashville, Tennessee; Philadelphia; Cleveland and Raleigh, North Carolina. DGX aims to attract a younger, on-the-go customer — a change from the audience typically drawn to the discount retailer’s traditional Dollar General locations, according to sister publication Philadelphia Business Journal. Millennials are an important part of Dollar General’s customer base, and the Fortune 500 company hopes to attract new urban customers with its stores.
And those younger consumers are growing in downtown Orlando. A DGX concept would serve the expanding population in downtown Orlando where its current retail lineup, largely food and bar dominated, doesn’t have the services needed to cater to new demands, as previously reported by OBJ. More services — including eye doctors, nail salons, dentists, urgent care facilities and cellphone stores — will be needed in the central business district as the resident numbers grow. City officials expect an almost 10 percent downtown population jump in the next half decade, according to a city of Orlando spokeswoman.
Dollar General planned to open about 975 new stores this year with roughly 10 of those being DGX retail locations.
Meanwhile, services and other amenities for residents would find success for the luxury tower’s remaining retail space. “Its location on Rosalind Avenue near the city garage are pros, along with its proximity to the University Club,” Tim Rogers, a senior associate with Franklin Street of Orlando, who is not involved in the deal, previously said.
For full story, visit https://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/news/2019/09/19/confirmed-fortune-500-retailer-to-open-in-downtown.html
