PRINT THIS STORY:

CHANGE TEXT SIZE:

CENTERS MUST HAVE ‘SIGNATURES’

The centerpiece of Jordan Creek Town Center is a $5 million man-made lake. And that has proved to be “one of the best leasing tools I’ve ever had,” Jeff G. Hildahl, CLS, SCSM, senior leasing representative for General Growth Properties, told ICSC’s CenterBuild Conference in December. The mammoth project opened in West Des Moines, Iowa, in August.

At just 3 feet deep, “it’s been a tremendous added value,” Hildahl said, noting that many of the center’s high-profile restaurant tenants would never have signed on without it. Most of them, which include P.F. Chang’s and Cheesecake Factory, are situated around the lake’s edge.

Every developer should consider adding such a “signature statement” to create buzz, he advised. “Creating that special place helps us compete with lifestyle centers,” he said.

Future General Growth projects, including the planned redevelopment of Alderwood Mall, near Seattle, will draw on lessons learned through Jordan Creek, said Hildahl. Alderwood will include a central terrace serving a function similar to Jordan Creek’s lake.

“It’s not going to be water, but it will create that unique place that you can group stores around and create community events around,” said Douglas A. McChane, General Growth’s vice president of development design.

The firm originally planned to install an ice rink at Jordan Creek, but the idea proved impractical considering the region’s hot summers, McChane said.

General Growth has also learned from its errors at the Jordan Creek project, executives said, such as having built some shells before the leases were signed, only to have to do some expensive retrofitting later.

Now, while continuing to build out public spaces, plazas and key architectural features early, “we’re going to leave the storefronts off and wait until tenants are signed,” said Tim Gardels, General Growth’s vice president of design and construction. “It will be a scramble at the end, but will cause less frustration.”

General Growth will start making its open-air shells taller, too — about 30 feet as a rule, he said — because retailers consistently request it.

Jordan Creek is 80 percent leased and 90 percent committed. The center received 2.4 million visitors its first month, making the opening the best-attended one in the REIT’s 50-year history.

— BB