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WESTCOR TO INTRODUCE UPSCALE RETAIL TO TUCSON

BY DEBRA HAZEL

A cluster of sit-down restaurants will anchor one end of La Encantada.

If good things come to those who wait, the Nov. 6 grand opening of La Encantada ought to be fantastic. Westcor Partners has been waiting for nearly 20 years to build on the Tucson, Ariz., site, which has been zoned for retail for more than four decades.

The 35-acre parcel, at Skyline Drive and Campbell Road, was once part of an estate owned by a local family.

“Most retail developers knew that this was the jewel of the Catalina foothills,” said David Scholl, senior vice president of development at Phoenix-based Westcor, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Macerich Co.

Residences and grocery stores have gone up on other parts of the estate, but, for various reasons over the years, the largest retail parcel was never developed. After initially eyeing the property in the mid-1980s, Westcor won a 1998 developers’ contest and by the end of that year had the site under contract.

Then the real fight began. Previous potential developers, arguing that they still had the right to build, filed lawsuits that were resolved by early last year. Dealing with the city wasn’t easy, either. Tucson wanted to restrict certain uses on the property, such as movie theaters and a Nordstrom that was originally planned. Westcor finally got the green light in early 2002 to build a 258,000-square-foot, two-level, open-air specialty center. For all the other delays, Westcor’s 2002 acquisition by Macerich (SCT, February 2003) caused nary a hiccup.

The company will leave 12 acres of open space, seven of them as a park.

“That’s a strong message for any developer, in this case making the community part of the process,” said Tracey P. Gotsis, SCMD, Westcor’s vice president of marketing.

An AJ’s Purveyor of Fine Foods (a division of Chandler, Ariz.-based supermarket chain Bashas’) will anchor one end of the center, and a cluster of sit-down restaurants will anchor the other. More than 35 specialty tenants, including Adrienne Vittadini, Ann Taylor, Crate & Barrel, Talbots and Williams-Sonoma will be located in between. Rents range from $30 to $60 per square foot, with CAM at about $10 per square foot.

“While it might have been nice to have more tenants, this will be a nice addition to the area,” Scholl said.

The market has become increasingly affluent, while maintaining a cost of living that is 1.3 percent below the national average, Westcor says. The city is Arizona’s second-largest after Phoenix, with a population exceeding 860,000 (more than 1 million in the three-county metro area). The average yearly household income within a two-mile radius of the project exceeds $121,000. The majority of residents (67 percent) work in white-collar jobs, with the University of Arizona and Raytheon Missile Systems being the city’s largest employers. Yet the area has little high-end retail. Most shoppers drive to Phoenix to fill their upscale needs.

“Tucson has a lot of ‘quiet’ money — as much as Scottsdale,” said Joanne Gariepy, retail specialist at PICOR Commercial Real Estate Services, referring to the affluent Phoenix suburb. The Tucson-based brokerage has worked with several tenants now at La Encantada. “All of the good restaurants here are totally full and busy. The time has come for Tucson.”

In addition, Tucson’s golf courses and spas continue to attract tourists, while its proximity to Mexico draws wealthy shoppers from south of the border. Between 50 and 60 percent of La Encantada’s shoppers will come from the area, an additional 20 percent from non-Mexican tourists, 17 percent from Mexican tourists, from both just across the border and Mexico City.

“We work very closely with Mexico’s tourism and trade office,” said Dana Christenson, La Encantada’s senior property manager. “We’ll have events at the center every weekend, some targeted to Mexican holidays. We’re talking about doing directions in Spanish.”

Plans also call for shopping tours and shuttles that will bring customers from the area resorts.

The center’s design, by Tucson-based Burlini Silberschlag and Seattle-based Callison Architecture, recalls the haciendas found throughout the Southwest, which usually consist of a main house that has been added to over the years or decades to accommodate a family’s growth.

“Tucson has plenty of Mediterranean and Spanish-influenced architecture,” Scholl said. “We said, ‘Let’s look for a way to take that and add a contemporary feel.’”

Lead designer Callison visited the site during various seasons to see what mountain and city views could be incorporated and also looked to local buildings such as the Arizona Inn for inspiration.

“We noticed they created linked courtyards, and we wanted to capture that quality, which was a natural response to the environment,” said Stan Lagreid, a principal at Callison and the design principal for the center. The openness of the design lets in light while offering multiple shade opportunities.

Buildings will use stucco, plaster and precast concrete, with as many natural elements as possible. The center will encompass a pedestrian street. Because of a 60-foot elevation, most of the retail and the covered parking will actually be on the second floor, with escalators connecting the two levels.

Landscaping, by locally based TMHS Associates, will forgo the usual cactus and large fountains in favor of colorful desert flowers and the citrus trees more likely to be found in a hacienda garden.

“There was a strong feeling across the board that we shouldn’t create a lot of water elements,” Lagreid said. “That’s not what it means to live in the desert.”

Using an architectural team consisting almost entirely of locals was important to the process, Scholl said. “Tucson has always been the little brother to Phoenix, so there’s a bit of a rivalry there,” he notes.

Construction began in July 2002. Most exciting to Scholl is that despite, or perhaps because of, the format that evolved during its long gestation period, La Encantada could become a new direction for Westcor.

“We could roll this out to other communities,” Scholl said. “If I can find 30 acres, I can create something that the neighborhood will adopt as their own. If I can get 10 more acres and get a small department store, I’ve got something exciting.”

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