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Shopping Centers Today -> July 2001
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S.R. WEINER POWERS UP R.I. LIFESTYLE CENTER
By Donna Mitchell
"Crossing" is the operative term when it comes to The Crossing at Smithfield, where construction work has finally begun after many delays.
Officially, S.R. Weiner’s $50 million Rhode Island project is named for its position where state Route 44 in Rhode Island and Interstate 295 wrap around each other in a cloverleaf, right near the borders of Connecticut and Massachusetts. But it might just as well have been named for its crossbreed configuration, a power center that includes the smaller specialty retailers typically found in regional malls.
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"It’s a cross between power centers and lifestyle centers. We’re trying to get the best retailers from a performance standpoint in these centers," said Tom DeSimone, executive vice president at Chestnut Hill, Mass.-based S.R. Weiner & Associates, the development and management company which is overseeing the project. "We’re looking for the best performers. The customers will be happy, no matter what you call it."
The Home Depot, Kohl’s, Target and Linens ’n Things will anchor the 625,000-square-foot center, which is shaped like a hockey stick, with the stores arranged on two sides of a large parking lot. Other tenants will include Gap, Barnes & Noble, Ann Taylor Loft, Yankee Candle, Michael’s Crafts, Chili’s Grill & Bar, Bath & Body Works, Staples and Old Navy. The Crossing is expected to open in summer 2002.
S.R. Weiner is well known in New England for its similar projects. In Lisbon, Conn., it is putting the finishing touches on Lisbon Landing, a 600,000-square-foot center, and it just doubled the size of The Marketplace at Augusta, in Augusta, Maine, turning it into an 800,000-square-foot center with a more varied tenant mix.
"Weiner is the very best at finding locations at intersections, and they do a good job by creating synergy [between tenants], finding the best tenants, and they broaden the trade area," said Kenneth Hecht, senior vice president and partner of Boston real estate services firm CB Richard Ellis/Whittier Partners.
According to DeSimone, putting more specialty stores typically found in traditional malls into power centers sometimes means having more patience with those stores. While power center tenants are very comfortable with their kind of format, traditional mall tenants are still learning, he said. Expansion-minded specialty retailers need to start thinking about formats other than the regional mall where they can do well, he observed.
"We’re trying to make a case that this is the format that can provide them with good opportunities for high volume, customer attraction and low operating costs," he said.
Not everyone is cheering now that work is under way on The Crossing at Smithfield, however. A group of highly organized residents opposed the center’s construction right from the start, beginning with the zoning permit process. At the highway intersection, The Crossing at Smithfield is accessible from Massachusetts, and the eastern portion of Connecticut. Convinced the project would invite traffic snarls at the cloverleaf and contribute to sprawl in the area, the residents fought it until the Rhode Island Supreme Court struck down any further obstacles to its construction.
But despite the chilly reception, DeSimone is banking on the shopping center’s tenant mix, plus a layout of sidewalks, canopies and restaurants to create a relaxed, attractive environment to woo even its harshest critics.
"There is landscaping, and trees to dress up the facade, so it looks inviting," DeSimone said. "We’ve tried to create a feel so it doesn’t look like a concrete block."
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