The program that turned Tanger's rooftops into community talking points

The challenge

Tanger had already built a real sustainability record: LEED Gold at many of its centers, EV charging, a tree planting program tied to Earth Day each year. But most of that lives in a report. A shopper walking through a center has no way to see it, and a marketing director has nothing physical to point to when a tenant asks what the center is doing beyond leasing them square footage.

"We want Tanger centers to be more than just places to shop. We want to be part of the communities we serve. By combining sustainability and community engagement, we're creating spaces that connect people with nature in a meaningful way."
— Tanger Enterprise Operations and Communications team

Tanger needed something people could actually notice on the ground.

How each center runs the program

A beekeeper installs the hive on the rooftop, then comes back on a set schedule, usually every three weeks, to check on the colony, feed it if needed, and eventually harvest.

Centers plan a workshop or two a season where a beekeeper walks shoppers and tenants through what's happening up there. At harvest, each site gets its own batch of honey, jarred with the center's name on it. Some goes to shoppers as giveaways, some goes to local food pantries.

Alvéole runs all of it. Property teams just show up when there's an event, and they get a MyHive link they can send to tenants, like the one for Tanger Outlets Deer Park, where anyone can check colony size or how far the bees have been flying that week.

It started with one hive. It's now 11 properties across 10 U.S. cities, including centers in Texas, New York, New Jersey and Maryland.

At the San Marcos, Texas center, marketing director Allison Murphy said she ended up learning more about bees than she expected to. Once she started explaining the program to tenants, retailers got curious fast, and shoppers weren't far behind.

The results

Engagement

The program now runs across 11 properties in 10 U.S. cities. Engaged tenants on the MyHive platform grew 20% in 2026. In 2025, Alvéole led 22 workshops across Tanger centers, reaching more than 2,000 participants, and centers distributed 300 pounds of honey as 1,100 jars to shoppers and local food pantries.

"Through this ongoing partnership with Alvéole, we are able to support the health and vibrancy of the communities we serve and raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity, all in line with Tanger's commitment to the value of inclusion and putting our communities first."
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— Tanger Enterprise Operations and Communications team

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Certifications and reporting

On the certification side, every participating center holds a WELL Rating, and 20 centers have earned LEED certification. The program feeds both, giving sustainability teams a steady stream of property-level data instead of a one-time survey. So far in 2026, Tanger's hives have pollinated 330 square miles around the properties they sit on.

“The data collected from our beekeeping program strengthens our sustainability and impact reporting, allowing us to track tangible biodiversity progress while engaging our communities in sustainable activities.”

– Tanger Enterprise Operations and Communications team

Tanger's COO summed up the thinking behind expanding the program back in 2022: sustainability work like this reflects that "it is our responsibility to contribute to a greener, more sustainable environment."

What the bees ended up doing for Tanger

At a lot of Tanger centers now, shoppers know about the bees before they know how many stores are in the building. Nobody set out to make that the outcome. It just turned out to be one of the more effective things Tanger has going for it.