Nashville developer bringing big retail and jobs to Zanesville

ZANESVILLE − When Ulta Beauty opens this fall in the Northpointe Center, it will be because of Wyatt Woeltje and his development group Highland Capital, based in Nashville, Tenn.“When we bought the majority of property in Northpointe Center — I own everything except the Lowe’s and Home Depot — it was at 30% occupancy,” said Woeltje, principal of Highland, who purchased 190,000 square feet of Northpointe property in 2023. “We’re now at 97% occupancy.”With only two small spaces left at 1,800 square-feet and 3,500 square-feet, Woeltje feels his group’s efforts to bring big names to Zanesville has been successful. “The city of Zanesville is great and the property is great,” said Woeltje. Highland Capital targets what Woeltje calls value-add shopping centers.

“I look for a lot of vacancies and big box vacancies — retail spaces that offer 20,000 to 50,000 square feet,” he said. “(Northpointe) was perfect. It was built in 2006 — which is a relatively new building, so it looks crisp and clean; it had the retail spaces we wanted; and it was only 30% occupied.”He said the lack of occupancy before he came along had little to do with the city or the area’s ability to support big retail.

“Nine times out of 10 it’s not the fault of the city or the people. It comes down to ownership. It’s really about the people behind the scenes.“Northpointe just needed some tender loving care.”And Highland Capital, which has purchased a little over a million square feet of property since forming at the beginning of 2023, was able to provide it.Woeltje credits his huge network of retail and business partners with being able to not just purchase the Northpointe property, but to court the retailers for the spaces, and then get them to pen the contract.“The day I signed the contract for the (Northpointe) property was the same day I signed the lease with Academy Sports and Outdoors,” he said, adding that he found out about the property through his broker network. “I filled 55,000 square feet my first day. A lot of owners take their time, throw their ‘for rent’ sign out, and wait. I don’t do that. I’m very proactive.”Proactive to the tune of Carter’s opening April 9; Bealls and Home Centric opening April 19; Academy Sports + Outdoors opening in May, which is the first of its stores to open in Ohio; Ulta Beauty opening in the fall; a yet-to-be-named fast food restaurant next to Academy Sports that’s in negotiations; and one yet-to-be-named retailer also in negotiations next to Ulta.“I’ve worked with so many retailers that I can just make a phone call and make it happen,” said Woeltje. “I’m able to step in and cut to the chase. I move quickly and get these retailers where they need to be successful.”Woeltje’s development — or as he likes to call it, redevelopment — efforts are a combination of earned business skills that started in brokerage combined with an intuitive sense of how to connect the dots between businesses and people who need each other to be successful.“It’s a puzzle. It’s connecting the pieces. And the more you do it, the better sense of it you get,” he said, adding that he has developed more than 9.5 million square feet of property in his career so far. “Now, I can look at a property and within minutes I have a game plan on what’s going in there.”Woeltje said he sees a lot of opportunity in the Midwest and Southeast, partly because of the people. “I don’t go too far west or north. They aren’t nearly as friendly to work with,” he said. “It’s just completely different and it makes a world of difference. I know where it’s friendly business and friendly people. I don’t need unwanted stress.”And in the development business, there’s plenty of stress to go around right now.“The biggest issues are the cost of doing business and the cost of construction for new builds,” he said. “Cities are trying to get creative, but when it’s so expensive to build, you stagnate. In inflationary times, it’s not that businesses don’t want to expand, they do. But for new construction it’s hard to make the money work. I walk into these properties and sign leases because the building already exists.”He said if he had three more Northpointes, he could fill them up.“I wish I had more space. I don’t have anywhere to put people. I don’t have enough room. I’m full up,” he said. “But if the city said they had another property, I’d love to step in.”He said anytime businesses start to come into a city, it automatically brings more businesses.“It’s a chain reaction,” he said. “Retailers follow each other. When they start seeing action and growth, they start to take interest.”And that bodes well for Zanesville, where new retailers bring more jobs, more development, new housing, and new industries. And a 97% full Northpointe Center is certainly going to spark more interest, Woeltje said.“I’m excited to see all these retailers open,” he said. “(Northpointe has) been sitting vacant for six or seven years. So, it’s great to see everybody coming back.”

This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: Nashville developer bringing retail and jobs to Zanesville