Family Development
For expanding Southeast developer-owner Mimms Enterprises, development is all in the family.
Randall Shearin

Mimms Enterprises has been in business for nearly 80 years. Not a lot of shopping center developers can say that. Since its start, Mimms has been committed to building quality projects for neighborhoods in Atlanta. But if the Mimms name isn’t familiar to you, it may soon be. The company is expanding beyond its hometown of Atlanta, adding properties in other states in the Southeast to its portfolio.

Shopping Center Business recently met with Rob Mimms, who along with his brothers David and Lonnie, runs Mimms Enterprises. Mimms is headquartered in one of the company’s  properties in Roswell, Georgia.

Mimms purchased The Silos at North Farm Marketplace, in Milton, Georgia, in September 2006. The company plans to redevelop the center during 2007.

The Mimms brothers’ grandfather, Thomas Mimms, started the company in the late 1920s. Thomas Mimms began the company as a homebuilder, and then progressed into warehouse development. In 1955, Malon Mimms, the brothers’ father, joined the company and began developing warehouses and other commercial properties. In the late 1960s, the company began buying shopping centers. David Mimms joined the company in 1979, Lonnie Mimms in 1983 and Rob Mimms followed in 1989. In January 2006, the three brothers established a new office for Mimms Enterprises (Malon Mimms presently maintains a separate company operating under the name of The Malon D. Mimms Company that is closely linked to Mimms Enterprises). All told, the two companies own and manage 10 million square feet of property and have about 1,150 tenants combined. 

Crossroads Shopping Center, Buford, Georgia.

When the Mimms brothers moved their offices, they did so to focus on a direction of acquisition, development and redevelopment of retail properties. The company also wanted to continue with its expertise and roots within in the industrial sector. The brothers have streamlined their company by adding professionals to take on aspects of the business. For instance, they hired a chief operating officer and have department managers to manage the company day-to-day so they could focus on property acquisition and development. The company currently has 35 employees.

Within the Mimms Enterprises portfolio, there are 5.5 million square feet of properties containing about 540 tenants. About 25 percent of the company’s portfolio is industrial, divided between bulk warehouses, multi-tenant distribution, flex or manufacturing, and a couple of office buildings. The balance of the portfolio is composed of neighborhood and community retail centers. While Mimms plans to continue to purchase industrial properties, it doesn’t plan on going outside the Atlanta market to do so.

“The main direction of our company is going toward the acquisition of value add retail, stabilized retail and raw land for the development of retail,” says Rob Mimms.

Fayetteville Commons is a center Mimms developed in Fayetteville, Georgia.

As far as development goes, Mimms is looking for everything from developing freestanding drug stores to the ground up development of grocery-anchored centers to power or mixed-use properties. Mimms is expanding its reach, as well, looking for sites and centers in Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina and Florida as well as Georgia. Pushing Mimms beyond its current borders is the desire to grow and serve more markets. The company has started a new division, SouthEastern Retail Investments (SERI), to develop centers throughout the Southeast.

“There are plenty of opportunities in the Southeastern states,” says Rob Mimms. “There is incredible growth going on in cities like Birmingham, Charlotte, Nashville and all over Florida. These are cities where some of the larger developers still do not have an active foothold.”

Sandy Springs Village, Sandy Springs, Georgia.

A fair amount of Mimms’ projects in Atlanta have been redevelopments of existing, older centers in active submarkets. It plans to look for similar opportunities in its new markets. The company plans to be in cities where the standard metropolitan statistical area (SMSA) population is greater than 100,000. Already, it has purchased a property in Chattanooga, Tennessee, that it plans to redevelop.

Since Mimms is a private company, it has the flexibility to purchase properties that others may pass. In 2006, the company purchased everything from a 100 percent vacant shopping center to a center that was fully leased with long-term national credit leases to new development. Its headquarters are even located in a former roller skating rink that the company purchased and redeveloped into a new building.

“Our acquisition strategy very much depends on our cash flow needs at the time and our growth opportunity with the asset,” says Rob Mimms. “We try to always have a balance between having a good quality cash flow and have the new developments and value add developments that will be our future growth.”

Mimms recently purchased the Publix-anchored Island Park shopping center in Ft. Myers, Florida.

Mimms is constantly looking for properties. The company has a full-time employee whose job it is to search out land and possible acquisitions. The company has four employees who are focused exclusively on taking care of its tenants. To add to its vertical integration, the company handles all general contracting, leasing, development, finance, accounting, legal and management in house. Mimms has even started its own roofing company to control the quality and promptness of service calls. 

One of Mimms’ strengths is that it is both a developer and an investor. In most cases, when it acquires a property, it will redevelop the center to some extent. But the company also has extensive experience in ground up development. It recently acquired a 53-acre parcel in Lenoir City, Tennessee, on the west side of Knoxville. Mimms is developing a 250,000-square-foot power center on the site, which will also have seven outparcels for restaurants and retail.  The company is also developing two build-to-suit projects for Georgia Backyard, an outdoor furniture company, one in Fayetteville, Georgia, and the other in Jacksonville, Florida.

Mimms transformed The Exchange at Hammond shopping center in Sandy Springs, Georgia, into a vibrant center anchored by Whole Foods, Office Depot, Ross Dress For Less, Petco, and Dollar Tree.

In Atlanta, the company’s largest recent redevelopment was The Exchange at Hammond, the re-creation of a landmark shopping center on Roswell Road. The center, located along one of the most traveled roads in the market, was retenanted with Whole Foods, Office Depot, Ross Dress For Less, Petco, and Dollar Tree. Mimms does not have a standard template for any of its properties. The company has developed everything from small, high end specialty centers, to large power centers with national tenants.

“We consider ourselves entrepreneurial and flexible, and we are very much opportunity driven,” says Rob Mimms. “We are very aggressive when it comes to looking at opportunities. Every deal stands on its own to us. It is almost like being a custom home builder with a totally unique floor plan every time you start.”

One area where Mimms will spend a lot of time looking for properties is infill markets in cities. Its success with The Exchange at Hammond is one reason — Mimms believes that there is an opportunity to revitalize cities in infill markets in the Southeast. The company owns a center along Moreland Avenue in Atlanta that it plans to eventually redevelop to a mixed-use project. 

Dawson 400 center, Dawsonville, Georgia.

The major decisions — including property purchases — are made by the three Mimms brothers. Royce Owens, the company’s chief operating officer, acts as a conduit between the brothers, the employees and senior management. The three brothers have their own areas of expertise. David Mimms focuses on the operations side of the company, including construction and development. Lonnie Mimms focuses on the finance side of the business and Georgia  retail sales and acquisitions. Rob Mimms focuses on out-of-state acquisitions and land acquisitions and development. All the brothers do their share of networking for the company. Each has their relationships with bankers, tenants and subcontractors. Mimms Enterprises has a reputation for being open with its employees — most know what the company is working on and what is about to be purchased. The company provides its employees lunch every day, which creates a sense of camaraderie  and openness. It also fosters the family environment, which helps in the company’s philanthropic endeavors. Those are an important cornerstone to the company’s success, says Rob Mimms.

“When you think about the big picture, we want to make sure that our company knows the purpose of being here day to day,” says Rob Mimms. “We can amass millions of dollars in real estate, but at the end of the day what are you really accomplishing? We want to make sure that our employees and our customers know that we are committed to making a difference.”

Home Center Village, Marietta, Georgia.

The Mimms’ family is involved with a number of charities and civic associations, such as various chambers of commerce, churches, schools, Boys & Girls Club, Habitat for Humanity, and Fellowship of Christian Athletes. The company has donated land to Habitat for Humanity as well as sponsoring houses for the organization. Mimms has currently help fund a new facility for the Cherokee County Boys and Girls Club. Its leadership in philanthropy has led a number of the company’s employees to get involved in civic and philanthropic endeavors.

Mimms developed a community center near the Mall of Georgia in Buford, Georgia.

“We want to develop a spirit of community and giving back in our employees,” says Rob Mimms. “It is exciting to watch that emerge and grow within them.”

All of the company’s employees also have a say in how the company is run. The company keeps a suggestion box where employees can submit ideas. The ideas are compiled and placed on a board in staff meetings. Last year, the company had 15 suggestions that were considered by staff. All were discussed with staff, and some were implemented. The company also has a bonus program that is rewarded based on company success, department success and individual success. It’s for reasons like this that Mimms was named Georgia Family Business of the Year in 2006.


©2007 France Publications, Inc. Duplication or reproduction of this article not permitted without authorization from France Publications, Inc. For information on reprints of this article contact Barbara Sherer at (630) 554-6054.