The Summit is the world's first official lifestyle center (occurring to International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC). The Summit, which opened in 1997, is located at the intersection U.S. Highway 280 and Interstate 459 in Birmingham.

This open-air center offers a mix of merchants and restaurants not seen anywhere else in Alabama. This center also features many retailers that have their exclusive Alabama if not Southeastern location. The main anchors includes Barnes & Noble, Alabama's first and exclusive location of Saks Fifth Avenue, and Parisian. Other merchants and restaurants includes BCBG, Bebe, Cheesecake Factory, Smith & Hawken, Storehouse, Tommy Bahama, White House/Black Market, and William-Sonoma.

The Summit's opening is unique because it is still in the process of being developed. The owner of the center slated it to be open in four individual phases. The first phase was a collection of 30 retailers and restaurants including Parisian and Barnes & Noble that originally opened with the center in 1997. The second phase included an additonal 20 retailers including Gap in 1999. The third and most recent phase was opened in 2001 with the anchor of Saks Fifth Avenue. The fourth and final phase is in the planning stages, but will include some 20 to 30 additional retailers and restaurants and bring the completion of the center with a total square footage nearly 1 million.

The owners of the center, Bayers Properties has trademarked the brand "The Summit" and is process of building other centers featuring the Summit namebrand in other markets. One of the other locations featuring "The Summit" brand recently opened in Louisville in 2001.

External link

• Official Website (http://www.thesummitonline.com)