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Shopping Centers Today -> July 2001
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URBAN RETAIL PANEL TERM 'NEW URBANISM'
By Dave Bodamer
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| Panelists from left: Grossman, Boorn and MacLeod discuss the challenges of designing new projects. |
LAS
VEGAS — Stressing the importance of good design and the challenges
that come with urban retail projects, three prominent developers
and one financier shared their experiences and challenges at ICSC’s
Spring Convention here. In front of a capacity audience at a session
on new urbanism, the panelists profiled some of their own work and
highlighted what they believe are the key components of successful
projects.
All
the speakers rejected the term "new urbanism" and the definitions
usually ascribed to it when describing their own works. Panelists
included Bruce MacLeod, executive vice president and COO of the
Palladium Co., New York City, and an ICSC Trustee; John P. Boorn,
chairman and CEO of Madison Marquette, Cincinnati, Ohio; Charles
Grossman, managing director of Clarion Partners, New York City,
and an ICSC Trustee; and Yaromir Steiner, president of Steiner +
Associates, Columbus, Ohio. "The definitions are elusive," MacLeod
said. "We haven’t figured out the terminology for some of the
projects we are doing."
Boorn described his firm’s work as the "creation of special places," with projects that are built on the personal scale, dominated by the pedestrian, feature mixed-use tenants, have a high-level of amenities and are designed as a whole rather than piece by piece. The ideal model for the firm’s work, he said, was a New England town with tree-lined wide sidewalks, cars parked in back, centrally located park areas and gathering areas, and an economy dominated by local business.
Steiner called his firm’s work, which includes the Easton Town Center, Columbus, Ohio, "new urban retail" which, in essence, follows the guidelines laid out by new urbanism, but is centered on leisure time and shopping rather than residential planning. "Historically, downtowns combined leisure time with shopping," Steiner said. But the two split in the 1950s with the construction of early regional malls. These centers were "very single-focused shopping experiences. Leisure did not follow shopping. Today we are experiencing a reintroduction of leisure time activities into shopping settings," he said.
The panel also stressed that these projects do not function as destinations in themselves. Developers must work to integrate the projects with the surrounding area.
"The high level of tailoring combined with the high price of developing in downtowns makes it very, very hard," MacLeod said.
When building the Cityplace mixed-use lifestyle center in West Palm Beach, MacLeod’s Palladium Co. was very concerned about how that project would fare and how it would affect the existing downtown.
"Everyone feared what Cityplace would do to Clematis Street," a recently revitalized Main Street for downtown retail in the city, MacLeod said. "Cityplace was going to fail unless we could pull from a larger market, and we needed businesses on the streets around it to do well."
The risk level and lack of strong precedents also create issues when financing these projects. Banks will only loan up to 60%-65% of a project’s cost, forcing developers to secure funding from other sources or pay for more of the project with cash, Grossman said.
"We’re barely scratching the surface," Steiner said. "We don’t have a model yet."
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