Madison Realty awarded brokerage contract for Freedom Crossing

Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. Mortenson Development, contracting with the Army & Air Force Exchange Service, announced Thursday that the brokerage contract for the future leasing efforts at Freedom Crossing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., has been awarded to Madison Realty Partners, a full service leasing, management and development consulting firm based in Minnesota.

Pre-development activity is underway on Freedom Crossing, a 600,000-sq.-ft. open-air retail development. Freedom Crossing will be the second ever such project to bring brand name stores onto an active military installation, creating an open-air marketplace that enhances the lifestyle of a growing market of military and civilian shoppers.

Established in February 2010, from the merger of two previously separate but geographically contiguous military installations, Joint Base Lewis-McChord is a joint military base of the United States Army and Air Force.

The project will encompass 56 acres and be anchored by a renovated and expanded Post Exchange and Commissary that currently generate sales of $150 million annually. According to Madison Realty Partners, who is also serving as development consultant to Mortenson Development for the project, tenant interest is strong. “We did extensive analysis of the lifestyle needs of our military personnel,” said Keith Anderson, principal of Madison Realty Partners.

“We’ve tailored our merchandising strategy to align with these findings,” added Anderson. Freedom Crossing will include an entertainment anchor, a 10-screen cinema, and an additional 135,000 sq. ft. mixing full-service and casual restaurants and a variety of national, regional and local retailers.

“With Freedom Crossing we are creating a new market for retailers,” stated Joe Giuffreda, VP the Army & Air Force Exchange Service Community Development Initiative. “The project will be the gathering place for more than 178,000 active and retired military, family members including the on-base daytime population of some 44,000,” added Giuffreda. “We’re especially excited to be providing greater convenience and an improved quality of life to the men and women who serve our country.”

Freedom Crossing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord will be the second of three Army & Air Force Exchange Service pilot retail developments that bring brand name stores onto an active U.S. military installation. The first was Freedom Crossing at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, opening this fall and Freedom Crossing at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, due to break ground in 2011 will be the third.

Freedom Crossing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord is slated to break ground in 2011 with completion in spring 2013.