PRINT THIS STORY:

CHANGE TEXT SIZE:

IN BRIEF

College Square’s $20.5M rehab

GK Development, owner of College Square Mall, Cedar Falls, Iowa, announced that it has begun a $20.5 million renovation of the regional shopping center. The mission: To give College Square Mall a bright, open look more in keeping with what today’s shoppers expect to see and experience in a regional mall. Supermarket chain Hy-Vee announced in November that it will take 80,636 square feet on the west side of the mall, relocating and expanding from its existing 60,000-square-foot store, also on the mall’s west side.

Interior improvements at College Square will include new lighting and flooring, soft seating areas, an enhanced waterfall, construction of two new restrooms, including a family rest room, in the mall’s east wing, and construction of a new rest room in the mall’s west wing. The renovation will be completed before the holiday shopping season. Opened in 1969, the mall was previously renovated in 1987. GK Development acquired the shopping center in 2004. The 571,585-square-foot College Square has three department stores, 54 specialty stores and an eight-screen theater with stadium seating. Major tenants are Von Maur, Younkers and Scheels All Sports.

Massachusetts center to be kosher

Newton, Mass., got its own kosher open-air shopping center in April. All of the stores in the as-yet-unnamed shopping center will be overseen by three mashgiachs, supervisors for the Kashruth Commission of the Synagogue Council of Massachusetts. The tenants will include kosher Bodavi Bakers and Centre Market, which will sell prime cuts of meat, prepared food by the pound, kosher beer and wine, and packaged Jewish specialty foods. Kosher pizzeria Red Pepper is slated to debut at the center in June.

NewMark’s mixed-use plans

Woodland Hills, Calif.-based NewMark Merrill Cos. is building The Marketplace on Grove, a 207,000-square-foot mixed-use project in Ontario, Calif. The center will include a 169,643-square-foot Lowe’s, several restaurants and a 270-apartment housing development. The Marketplace on Grove is slated to open this fall. The project is currently 80 percent leased.

Town Center gets tastier

Five restaurants and a 92,000-square-foot grocery store will be added to the Lancaster Town Center in Lancaster, Calif. The shopping center will add a Chili’s, a Panera Bread, a Rubio’s Fresh Mexican Grill, a Farmer Boy’s and a Jamba Juice. Other tenants to be added include a WinCo Foods grocery store, a CVS drugstore, a 3 Day Blinds shop, a Verizon Wireless shop and a Wells Fargo financial office. The new tenants should be installed by mid-2007, says developer Rob Isackson. Of the center's planned 280,000 square feet, all but about 10,000 square feet have been leased. The center is expected to have more than 20 businesses and will make $150 million in annual sales, Isackson says.

Comedy comes to Colo. center

Mad Cap Theater, a newly formed improvisational comedy club, has leased 5,100 square feet in Westminster Promenade, a 238,000-square-foot entertainment retail center at Church Ranch Road in Westminster, Colo. Mad Cap Theater, which will open in July, will offer interactive improvisational comedy and will occupy a free-standing building, currently under construction. The general contractor for the building is Construction Concepts, Longmont. The exterior architect is MCG Architecture, and the interior architect is MN2 Architecture.

Open-air center due in N.C.

A $44 million, 800,000-square-foot open-air center is being planned for Greensboro, N.C. Britt Way Commons will be built by Granite Development and Roy Carroll and may feature a multiplex, as well as big-box retailers. Details of the project are still being finalized, but plans call for between 700,000 square feet and 800,000 square feet of retail space.

Panattoni plumps retail portfolio

Panattoni Development Co. is developing Piemonte at Ontario (Calif.) Center, with 309,000 square feet of retail space plus 55,000 square feet of restaurants and services. It is adjacent to Ontario Mills, which draws more than 21 million visitors annually. Known primarily as an industrial developer, Sacramento, Calif-based Panattoni launched a retail division two years ago and has 22 retail developments presently under way.

Sembler plans Florida plaza

The Sembler Co. recently purchased land to build the North Springs Plaza, in Coral Springs, Fla. Target and Ross Dress for Less will anchor the 167,000-square-foot shopping center. There will also be approximately 10,000 square feet of retail tenants in smaller shops. “North Springs Plaza is sort of a diamond in the rough,” said Craig Sher, Sembler’s president and CEO, in a press release. “It is one of the last undeveloped pieces of property in an area that is exploding in growth, which may help explain why it is already almost fully leased.” North Springs Plaza is expected to break ground in May 2006 and open in July 2007.

Urban, Simborg build in Indiana

Urban Retail Properties and Simborg Commercial Real Estate are building Munster (Ind.) Town Center, a mixed-use project with 600,000 square feet of retail and 50,000 square feet of office space. The companies expect to finish the project, which Simborg will own, in late 2008. The developers hope to establish a town-center atmosphere with a cinema and some department stores and service retailers as anchors.

Nordstrom opens shop in Tacoma

Nordstrom plans to build a new store at Simon Property Group’s Tacoma Mall as part of the shopping center’s larger, multimillion dollar expansion and face-lift. Nordstrom will build a two-level, 144,000-square-foot store on the west end of the mall by the fall of 2008. The retailer will stay open in its current location in the mall until the store is completed. Simon is transforming Tacoma Mall into a lifestyle center by adding street-front retail shops and restaurants designed to mimic a town square. Tacoma Mall’s first expansion phase is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2007 and will add 45,000 square feet of retail space and seven or eight new stores and restaurants. Simon plans to add a further 60,000 square feet of adjacent retail space by the fall of 2009.

Coyote revamps Tulsa Promenade

Coming in second place does not have to mean skimping on quality, and Coyote Management, Addison, Texas, put that principle into practice when it renovated the Tulsa (Okla.) Promenade. Coyote bought the mall in March 2004, and completed an extensive redevelopment last November. Renovations included a new escalator, two new skylights near anchor Foley’s, a children’s play area, a new center court and two new entrances.

The mall is still considered the No. 2 shopping mall in the local market, because its merchandise mix is less upscale than that of local market leader Woodland Hills, a regional mall owned by Simon Property Group. Still, the changes will allow Coyote to attract retailers for its niche and meet the demands of underserved shoppers in the area, says Kymberley Woodard, a company spokeswoman.

Also, the Temple (Texas) Mall, which Coyote bought last year, is undergoing a repositioning and renovation. Coyote is working aggressively to enhance the center’s merchandising mix and hopes to get fresher tenants in place later this year. The company designed a new logo for the center and also added amenities, such as a new customer service center and a Discover Card program. An 8,000-square-foot restaurant called Trail Dust Steak House will open near the Foley’s department store this summer, and the existing Premier Cinema 12 will add a 13,000-square-foot expansion with four screens. At press time, the expanded cinema was scheduled to open this month.

Dual projects slated for Lawton

Newton Oldacre McDonald is planning to develop dual projects for an 80-acre shopping district in Lawton, Okla. The first project, called Wolf Creek Town Center, is already under way. This will feature more than 200,000 square feet of retail space anchored by a department store and restaurants, and is slated for completion this summer. Home furnishings stores, fashion retailers, bath and linens, and sporting goods stores will constitute the in-line tenant lineup. The Shoppes at Wolf Creek, the power center component, will contain specialty stores plus outparcel space for restaurants, banks and freestanding retailers. With more than 250,000 residents, Lawton is Oklahoma’s third-largest city and the site of Cameron University and the Fort Sill Army base.

Mid-America plans Illinois centers

Mid-America Development Partners, an Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.-based developer, is building Galleria at Naperville (Ill.) Crossings, a lifestyle center. A 16-screen cinema will anchor the center, which will also include a Cold Stone Creamery, a Mimi’s Café, a Panera Bread Company and a Potbelly Sandwich Works.

Mid-America is also planning to develop a 225,000-square-foot retail and entertainment project in Romeoville, Ill. Brunswick Recreation Centers, Lake Forest, Ill., which operates Brunswick Zone indoor recreation facilities, has agreed to open a 60,000-square-foot facility at the center. Mid-America plans to include three retail anchors, two freestanding restaurants and some specialty shops in the center, which is slated to open in the fall.

Retail center tied to transit

Kent, Wash., a city 20 miles south of Seattle, ushered in a new chapter in its urban renewal efforts. Tarragon Development Co. opened the first phase of Kent Station there, a $100 million mixed-use center planned around an increasingly active transit station there. When completed, the 470,000-square-foot project will combine retail, entertainment, residential and educational uses. The first phase opened in December, with several youth and teen-oriented apparel stores, a 14-screeen AMC theater, 11 local, regional and national restaurants and 13 service-oriented businesses. Future phases will include a branch campus for the Green River Community College, a 30,000-square-foot civic plaza, some women’s fashion stores and the residential component.

New start for old Kmart H.Q.

Madison Marquette, in partnership with real estate investment firm BlackRock Realty Advisors, bought the former Kmart headquarters in Troy, Mich., and is drafting plans for a large mixed-use development on the site. Preliminary plans call for retail, entertainment, lodging, residential and office components. The yet-unnamed project will be the second piece of property formerly owned by a department store company that Washington, D.C.-based Madison Marquette converts into a mixed-use center.

In November 2003 the company opened Cityline at Tenley, also in Washington, which contains 204 residential units atop a Container Store and a Best Buy, where Sears operated a 160,000-square-foot store for 50 years, beginning in the early 1940s. Sears sold the property to Hechinger’s, a home improvement superstore that later went bankrupt and in turn sold the site to Madison Marquette in 2000, according to Jeff Ingram, a spokesperson for Madison-Marquette. While developing Cityline at Tenley, Madison Marquette preserved the building’s art deco facade, an architectural mark that helped earned it a historic landmark designation in 1993. Although Madison Marquette is still drafting plans for the property, the company says it aims to complement the existing 1.4 million-square-foot Somerset Collection, a fashion mall anchored by Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue, and which contains about 180 in-line stores. “We hope to create a unique live, work, play environment that complements the elegance of the Somerset Collection,” said David Brainerd, managing director of investments at Madison Marquette.

Tampa’s new town center

Cleveland-based Richard E. Jacobs Group is planning to develop a large regional lifestyle center in Tampa, Fla. Cypress Creek Town Center will offer village-style shops, big boxes, restaurants and a large cinema. The project will also include a 185,922-square-foot department store as a major tenant. The developer is banking on a population boom in its primary market to ensure the project’s success. Cypress Creek Town Center’s primary market had 131,785 residents in 2000, and that is expected to increase to 271,700 by 2010, according to Rose Residential Reports, a real estate research group.

Bravern breaks ground in Bellevue

Schnitzer Northwest, a Bellevue, Wash.-based developer, plans to break ground on The Bravern, an outdoor mixed-use shopping center. The project will be on the same city block as the Meydenbauer Center, a convention and exhibition facility. Bravern will feature upscale retail stores, 14 conference and meeting rooms, a spa and fitness facility and a business center. The retail and dining portion will have several landscaped outdoor sitting areas. All of this will connect two planned office buildings that will total 745,000 square feet. Schnitzer says it plans to break ground this summer, for an opening in the fall of 2008, The project will cost about $400 million.

Greengate Mall gets a refresher

St. Louis-based THF Realty has redeveloped the former Greengate Mall, in Greensburg, Pa., into the open-air, 346,000-square-foot Greengate Centre. Located just off U.S. 30, the Greengate Centre features Fashion Bug, Jo-Ann Fabrics, Linens ’n Things and Petco as major tenants. A 203,622-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter anchors the project.

Forest City plants Orchard Town

Forest City Enterprises, Chicago, and the city of Westminster, Colo., are working together to build a 1 million-square-foot lifestyle and entertainment center called Orchard Town Center, which will offer a mixture of fashion-oriented retail, department stores and restaurants and other eateries. Forest City broke ground last September, and says it expects to be completed for a fall 2006 opening. Built on the site of an apple orchard, the lifestyle center will feature department stores JCPenney, Foley’s and SuperTarget. AMC Theatres plans to open a 12-screen cinema there. The city of Westminster will create a new highway interchange at Interstate 25 and 144th Avenue, which will open later this year and serve the growing north area. The city raised more than $85 million to finance public improvements for the project.

Forest City debuts in Lone Star

Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises is planning two large projects in Texas, one of which is a 1.2 million-square-foot lifestyle center in Mansfield. The $250 million project, The Shops at Broad Street, will boast four anchors, an entertainment component and about 85 specialty stores and restaurants. The Shops at Broad Street is part of a 100-acre mixed-use project that will also include residential, office and hotel space. The first phase of the retail portion is slated to break ground next fall, but the company has not determined an opening date.

Bridges project mulled for St. Paul

St. Paul, Minn.-based JLT Group is planning to build a 2 million-square-foot mixed-use center and urban village called The Bridges of Saint Paul. The retail portion calls for about 400,000 square feet of space, with more than 60 shops and as many as 12 restaurants. Plans also call for a 12-screen AMC cinema to anchor a 100,000-square-foot entertainment district that will feature live music venues, a comedy club and an upscale bowling facility. JLT also plans to include a public attraction celebrating anthropology and world cultures called Mythica: The Center for World Mythology and Human Journey. Construction is already under way on the project, which is slated to open inext spring. Besides retail, Bridges will offer 1,150 homes and a 250-room four-star hotel.

Yorkdale’s $42 million renovation

Yorkdale Shopping Centre, Ontario, Canada, is undergoing a $42 million renovation that will include the addition of low-profile hard and soft seating and the renovation of washrooms. Automatic sliding doors will replace swing doors at all entrances, providing easier access for customers. An 8,000-square-foot Moxie’s restaurant with 300 seats will also be added. Construction began in January and completion is scheduled for the fall of 2007.

Wal-Mart attracts other tenants

Tucker Development Corp., Chicago, anticipates a swelled tenant roster at its Country Club Plaza, Country Club Hills, Ill., after Wal-Mart builds a 203,800-square-foot Supercenter there. Further, West Lake Village, Calif.-based Guitar Center, Bare Feet Shoes, Wyncote, Pa., and Columbia, Md.-based MaggieMoo’s have all signed leases to join the center.

A Southern Santana Row?

Main Harbor Development, Ridgeland, Miss., is planning an ambitious riverfront mixed-use project in Jackson, Miss., meant to be similar to Federal Realty Investment Trust’s Santana Row outside San Jose, which is estimated to cost between $1 billion and $1.5 billion. Harbor Walk will be constructed in six phases, and Main Harbor Development broke ground on the first phase on February 3. Phase one, which alone will cost some $200 million and involved relocating houseboat piers, will feature a seven-story condominium building and a 135,000-square-foot office building that will also contain 150,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, says Jack Miller, Harbor Walk’s project manager. The entire project will be developed on 100 acres of prime waterfront property on the Ross Barnett Reservoir, and is being designed to look like an urban harbor town, according to the company.

Md. suburb tries mixed-use

Richard Craig & Associates, Wilmington, Md., is developing a 100,000-square-foot grocery-anchored center called Harbor Shops, in Havre de Grace, Md. The development firm plans to build the center near Bulle Rock, a large mixed-use center that will offer more than 2,000 residences and 325,000 square feet of office space. Several new residential subdivisions are under way in Harford County, where Havre de Grace is located. Nearly 14,000 people work within five miles of that area, and the average household income exceeds $56,000 a year, according to the company.

© 2010 ICSC. All rights reserved. | Terms and Conditions | Privacy Policy | Contact ICSC | ICSC Home |