We hear about the renaissance of the shopping malls a lot lately. In another new bit, mall owner Simon Property Group (NYSE: SPG) has entered into an agreement to purchase a development site in metro Nashville with plans to build a luxury shopping and lifestyle destination known as Nashville Premium Outlets.

Preliminary plans call for 75 retailers, restaurants, and a hotel, with the potential to add residential options and big box retailers.

This is a confirmation of the new, but maturing trend to provide upscale shopping options for areas that, in the opinion of developers, don’t have enough of high-end retail establishments.

Of course, we see it as good news. Surely, the developers researched socioeconomic indicators and performed the demographic analysis of the trade area for the planned mall. They did it, right?

We are as optimistic as the rest of the bunch about the economic prosperity in America, but doing one’s homework is important when you put so much money in one place. One can only hope that the data they used came from a reliable source, and that it was reflective of the true state of the locality’s disposable income trends.

Ticon knows its ways around data. We collect and purchase a wide variety of data from a broad range of sources, and let us tell you: sometimes we filter 95% of what we get as extraneous or even misleading. We employ powerful machine learning algorithms – the stuff the media refers to as AI – to sift through the data, cross-reference it, and build a composite picture that closely reflects reality.

Just how closely? Our data is famous for its accuracy, achieving under 20% error with 90% confidence. This result is good enough for structural engineering, not just for retail location analysis.

So, when you plan on putting together a commercial real estate development project, get in touch with us.

We’ll have it covered. Guaranteed.