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The following is a compilation of news items and project updates from Spring Convention:

Glimcher’s Polaris Fashion Place ready for October opening

The interior of Glimcher’s Polaris Fashion Place will look like an upscale hotel lobby and feature a concierge desk.

Glimcher Realty Trust’s $200 million, 1.5 million-square-foot Polaris Fashion Place, Columbus, Ohio, is on schedule for its Oct. 25 opening. When it opens, all seven of its anchors will be ready for business. The anchors are Sears, Great Indoors, Lord & Taylor, Saks Fifth Avenue, Kaufmann’s, J.C. Penney and Lazarus.

The mall’s interior will be highly finished with wood railings and carpeting, giving it the look of an upscale hotel lobby. In fact, the center will feature a concierge desk offering services similar to those of a hotel, including valet parking and restaurant reservation booking.

Polaris enters a highly competitive retail market that also contains Easton Town Center, and two regional malls owned by Taubman Centers, Columbus City Center and The Mall at Tuttle Crossing.

A Glimcher spokeswoman said that 35% of the tenants in the center would be making their Columbus debuts.

Bayer deploys Summit concept
Bayer Properties, Birmingham, Ala., which owns 21 retail properties primarily in secondary and tertiary markets, is building its third "Summit" property. The properties are mixed-use lifestyle centers featuring retailers such as Parisian, Saks Fifth Avenue, Barnes & Noble, Pottery Barn, Franklin Covey, bebe, Williams-Sonoma and restaurants such as Macaroni Grill and P.F. Chang’s. The Summit concepts target upscale shoppers and are designed to emulate a suburban downtown.

The company built its first 531,567-square-foot Summit in Birmingham and now is building a second Summit, which will be 360,000 square feet, in Louisville, Ky. It has plans to build a third in Milwaukee.

CBL & Associates praises curfew
Saying that Hamilton Place, Chattanooga, Tenn., was plagued with gang activity, CBL & Associates took the unusual step in late April of instituting a teen curfew at the property during weekends. The early results of the program, CBL officials said, were a success. Even retailers that originally opposed the idea, including Proffitt’s department store, which operates two stores at the mall and had concerns about teens not being able to walk between the two, has changed its tune and praised the program.

"We have not had one incident since we started the program," said CBL spokesman John Martin. He added that traffic has increased at the mall each weekend with a particularly noticeable increase in the number of families coming to the mall.

Despite the program’s success, curfews are not in store for all of CBL’s properties. "This is not something we’re looking at as a company police," Martin said. "We’re looking at it on a case-by-case basis."

Developers Diversified planning two Long Beach projects

The Pike at Rainbow Harbor will feature entertainment and lifestyle-type tenants.

Developers Diversified Realty, Cleveland, is developing two Long Beach, Calif., projects
located just three blocks from each other. Both will open next year.

CityPlace will cover eight blocks downtown bounded on the north and south by Sixth Street and Third Street, and on the east and west by Elm Avenue and Pine Avenue. It will contain 475,000 square feet of retail space to go along with 328 residential units and a 138-room hotel. Three major tenants have already been announced for the project: Wal-Mart, Albertson’s and Sav-on. The main portion of the project will occupy the site of the former Long Beach Plaza.

The second project, located three blocks south of CityPlace, is called The Pike at Rainbow Harbor. The project will bridge Shoreline Drive and overlook Rainbow Harbor. It will be bounded on its east side by Pine Avenue. The 450,000-square-foot center will feature entertainment, retail and lifestyle-type tenants and sit on the site of a former amusement park, located between the Long Beach Convention Center and the Aquarium of the Pacific.

General Growth planning hybrid regional mall for Dallas
Chicago-based General Growth Properties is planning a resort-style regional mall in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Designs for the development, Circle T, are ongoing, but are expected to be reminiscent of a Texas ranch. Part of the development will be an open-air village setting, featuring 1.6 million square feet of department store anchors and specialty retailers. Initial anchors include Lord & Taylor, Dillard’s, Foley’s, J.C. Penney, Nordstrom and Macy’s. Entertainment venues are also on tap for the center, including a carousel, ice skating rink and restaurants. General Growth expects to open Circle T in 2003.

St. Joe Commercial plans coastal developments for Fla.
St. Joe Commercial of Jacksonville, Fla., is planning to develop a portion of its 1 million-acre inventory of land along the state’s northwest coastline. Early plans call for development of small centers along Florida’s Route 98, and will include Pier Park, a retail, dining and leisure district in Panama City Beach. Because some areas might be environmentally sensitive, St. Joe Commercial is still selecting appropriate areas for its plans. The company expects to announce further details on its development plans by the end of August, and to proceed with construction within seven years.

Atlantic Station to be built on site of Atlanta steel mill
Jacoby Development is developing Atlantic Station, a multiuse project to be built on the site of a former steel mill in Atlanta. The $1.3 million first phase of the project, designed by DDG Inc. of Baltimore, is expected to comprise 900,000 square feet, 400,000 square feet of which will be devoted to retail.

The project, which will retain the look and feel of the original steel mill, is expected to be open by fall 2003. James Jacoby, chairman of the Atlanta-based development firm and of the project, said in building Atlantic Station, "We are trying to create a neighborhood.’’ With the presence of companies in the area such as BellSouth and Turner Broadcasting, "this is a great market for a residential’’ component as well, he said. The company is looking for hotel partners for the project and has received interest from a top builder for a 500-room hotel with convention facilities.

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