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AWARDS RECOGNIZE WORLD’S BEST-DESIGNED CENTERS

They came from around the world: Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, Spain, the United Arab Emirates and, of course, the United States. ICSC announced the winners of its International Design and Development Awards Program at the Spring Convention, honoring world-class shopping center projects for their vision, innovation, creativity and, ultimately, their success.

The program recognizes owners, developers, architects and designers, contractors and managers for their ability to create world-class shopping destinations. Combining dedication and hard work with an ability to “think outside the box,” the winners all share a common bond of pride and professionalism in what they do, as well as the critical ability to respond to the challenges of the global marketplace.

The judging falls into the categories of Innovative Design and Construction of a New Project, and Renovation or Expansion of an Existing Project. The size categories are: less than 150,000 square feet, 150,000-500,000 square feet and more than 500,000 square feet.

Scoring is based on 1-10 points for presentation of entry materials; 1-15 points for design attributes, including colors, materials and lighting; 1-30 points for overall exterior and interior design; 1-35 points for achievement of development goals and economic success; and 1-10 points for project difficulty and innovative response.

Entries accumulating 85 points or more are declared winners; those scoring from 75 to 84 are awarded certificates of merit. The judging is conducted by members of ICSC’s International Design and Development Awards Program Committee.

Not only do this year’s winners come from very different parts of the world, but their projects are diverse, too. One of them successfully bridges the gap between a suburban project and an urban one. Another is a classy — and subtle — destination of mixed uses. Yet another winning project creates a new genre of village-style shopping center, while another offers a dazzling, avant-garde design and tenant mix.

The International Design and Development Awards Program Committee this year consisted of Chairman Daryl K. Mangan, Colonial Properties Trust, Birmingham, Ala.; Ronald A. Altoon, Altoon + Porter Architects, Los Angeles; Stanley C. Burgess, The Rouse Co., Columbia, Md.; F. Carl Dieterle Jr., Simon Property Group, Indianapolis; Gordon T. Greeby, GCI/ProNet Midwest, Lake Bluff, Ill.; John M. Millar, SCSM, Jones Lang LaSalle, Atlanta; Matthew Ostrower, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, New York City; J. Thomas Porter, Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Associates, Atlanta; Rao K. Sunku, J.C. Penney Co., Dallas; Ian F. Thomas, Thomas Consultants, Vancouver, British Columbia; Gerald M. White, Copaken, White & Blitt, Leawood, Kan.

Here are this year’s winners:

INNOVATIVE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW PROJECT

(Less than 150,000 square feet)
The Corner at Bellevue Square
Bellevue, Washington
Owner: F. Kemper Freeman Jr.
Management Company: Bellevue Square Managers
Architect/Designer: Sclater Partners Architects
General Contractor: Baugh Construction

The marketplace surrounding the 20-year-old, 1.3 million-square-foot Bellevue Square had grown up, with what was once a strictly suburban neighborhood taking on a decidedly urban tone. Bellevue Square had to rise to meet the challenge of this changing environment. But rather than simply making some cosmetic changes to reflect its new role, the owners decided to create a whole new link to its evolving market.

That link is The Corner at Bellevue Square, a 110,000-square-foot, streetfront retail building. It connects to its market physically. The Corner is an in-fill design between an existing six-story parking garage (two more were added) and two arterial streets. It also connects visually. Six unique building facades meet the design goal of replicating the varied fabric of multiple buildings built at different times. It is, in other words, timeless streetfront retailing that effectively links the original Bellevue Square with the core of the city’s central business district. The Corner serves as a visual buffer to the concrete parking facility, and it effectively orients storefronts to the street, unlike the typical inward-facing shopping center.

Its public access point is The Lodge, a 4,000-square-foot gathering spot and hub for vertical transportation, and its focal point is a 40-foot-tall fireplace fashioned of stone quarried in Montana. Fireplace features include rustic steel gates, andirons and a heavy steel mantel. Custom leather furniture, distinctive lamps and artfully designed tables complete its appointments.

The Corner’s design also provided the opportunity to attract new, nationally recognized tenants to one of the state’s busiest intersections. Such retailers as P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, and Crate and Barrel were easily sold on the chance to be part of this innovative bridging of suburbia to an emerging urban core. Indeed, The Corner at Bellevue Square has provided the impetus for further street-oriented retail development in Bellevue as part of the city’s ongoing urban growth plan.

Ultimately, the combination of a thoughtful, inspiring approach to shopping center design coinciding with Bellevue’s urbanization turned The Corner into a winning project. This blend of urban planning, dynamic tenant mix and cutting-edge design has not only made The Corner itself a success story, but also melded the once-suburban Bellevue Square to its changing marketplace and community.

(Less than 150,000 square feet)
The Promenade at Bonita Bay
Bonita Springs, Fla.
Owner/Management Company: The Lutgert Cos. Architect/Designer: Humphrey Rosal Architects
General Contractor: Boran Craig Barber & Engel

The Promenade at Bonita Bay, 78,400 square feet of retail space and 28,000 square feet of office space, is an innovative, upscale project that caters to its captive office worker audience and fulfills its role as the commercial centerpiece of a 3,000-acre master-planned community with a potent anchor complement of five restaurants.

It is itself a destination featuring classic Mediterranean architecture, extensive water features and tropical foliage. Stores and restaurants are interconnected with covered walkways that meander to channel traffic past all stores. The anchor restaurants are placed on the outside edges, creating a spokes-of-a-wheel configuration.

The Promenade caters to the affluent resort communities of Naples and Bonita Springs on Florida’s west coast. Located directly between Naples and Fort Myers, it provides Bonita Springs with an identity along a corridor that is rapidly fusing together. It embodies understated elegance and quality through the use of the best materials, attention to detail and the careful crafting of its tenant mix.

When The Lutgert Cos. first viewed it, the site was configured as three distinct parcels, all bisected by roads. Rather than have a small-scale grouping of service-retail or office buildings, the developer opted to acquire all three parcels, reroute the roads and create a project of presence and stature. It was designed as six separate buildings positioned so that major utility lines could be left intact.

The developer paid attention to scale to ensure that the structures relate physically to the customer. There are no “concrete canyons” here, nor are there tight spaces. The Promenade offers soft edges, proportion and visual stimulation. It is tropical, natural and human-scaled.

But The Promenade has succeeded by sticking to the basics. It has grouped quality merchants with quality dining. And it caters entirely to the marketplace’s retail nature: a combination of resort visitors and seasonal residents. It is strikingly handsome and comfortable, and demonstrates that a stimulating retail environment doesn’t always need extreme graphics. Neither does it have to be megasize; The Promenade works because it is carefully sized to the community it serves.

(More than 500,000 square feet)
FlatIron Crossing
Broomfield, Colo.
Owner/Management Company: Westcor Partners
Architect/Designer: Callison Architecture
General Contractor: Roche Constructors

FlatIron Crossing, at 1.5 million square feet and anchored by Dillard’s, Foley’s, Galyan’s, Lord & Taylor and Nordstrom, is a trendsetter in a number of ways. First, it’s a clear example of a new genre of shopping center, one that places greater emphasis on the authenticity of local environment and culture. It’s a combination shopping center and village that meshes a two-level enclosed mall with a low-rise, open-air, town-center-style collection of retail, service and food businesses.

Next, it’s the product of a series of intensive work sessions involving the owner, the design team and owner reps (finance, leasing, construction). The question was how to redefine the role and function of the regional shopping center for today and for the future. The answer was to create an identity, a design and amenities that respond to the community’s outdoor lifestyle and cultural aspirations, and show sensitivity to the environment.

FlatIron Crossing is notable in the way it addresses questions about the environment. Its attached outdoor shopping area features parklike green space and is accessible from local trail systems. It also meets many of the criteria of the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design rating system, focusing on site factors, energy, materials and indoor air quality. For one thing, the center is oriented to take advantage of winter sunlight while diminishing the effects of summer heat. For another, it integrates recycled materials and uses locally available stone.

In design terms, FlatIron Crossing is not a typical rectilinear mall. Rather, it’s configured as two sweeping curves that intersect to form an airy, enclosed structure with an outdoor urban streetscape. Situated to capture spectacular views of the Rockies, a feature entrance begins a sequence of spaces starting with a sheltered meadow and pond, moving gradually through the center and out to a four-acre park of waterfalls and native vegetation.

FlatIron Crossing is also the first suburban shopping center in the world to feature a shuttle system with its own dedicated roadway, the ZIP shuttle, which uses sophisticated propane-powered vehicles. It’s also the first shopping center in the United States to create a nonprofit organization dedicated to a single cause, the FlatIron Crossing Music & Art Foundation.

FlatIron Crossing indeed provides a long list of “firsts.” At the end of the day, it’s a regional shopping center that elevates its purpose by celebrating its potential as a legitimate venue for social, economic and cultural interaction.

RENOVATION OR EXPANSION OF AN EXISTING PROJECT

(More than 500,000 square feet)
Menlyn Park Shopping Centre
Pretoria, Guateng, Republic of South Africa
Owner: Old Mutual Life Insurance Co. of South Africa
Management Company: Old Mutual Properties
Architect: Bild Architects
Designer: Development Design Group
General Contractor: Wilson Bailey Homes

Amid a growing and underserved population, Menlyn Park was successful, but a little tired. It needed a more modern look, better access and an improved and expanded tenant mix. The renovation of the 18-year-old Menlyn Park nearly doubled its size to just under 1.3 million square feet. It also turned it into a dazzling, avant-garde shopping and entertainment experience — a destination in its own right in South Africa’s capital city, Pretoria. Pragmatically speaking, the renovation improved access, added new feature spaces, expanded the center both horizontally and vertically, and completed what had been partial upper levels.

Menlyn Park is actually four themed shopping halls: Aviary Hall, featuring a two-story cage for exotic birds; Cavendish Court, a tribute to the latest fashion trends; Celestial Hall, where fiber-optic lighting defines the constellations on the ceiling; and the three-level, open and airy Grand Hall.

A new six-level parking garage is in fact a lot more: Its design imaginatively transforms the top level into the Menlyn Drive-In, South Africa’s first drive-in movie theater. Traditionalists, however, still have a 16-screen Cineplex immediately adjacent to the drive-in.

Another innovative feature is Menlyn Events, a multipurpose arena inspired by the amphitheaters of ancient Rome. Menlyn Park is a venue for everything from concerts to family-oriented attractions and sporting events. The overriding goal was to remake the center to attract a wider audience as a unique destination in its own right. The concept of combining shopping and entertainment now defines its point of differentiation with its competitors.

In a design sense, it is a highly thematic experience, a mixture of bright, upbeat colors and striking patterns that celebrate the ambience of Africa. It uses new lighting techniques, powerful sculptural graphics and a carefully planned tenant mix that features anchors Edgars, Galaxy World, Game, Hyperama, Metro Theatres, MTN Science Centre, Truworths, Woolworths and Stuttafords.

By any standard, Menlyn Park has succeeded in taking the drudgery out of shopping and turning it into what it should be: a fun-filled experience for the entire family. It successfully brings the outdoors indoors and breaks new ground as the first super-regional shopping and entertainment destination in South Africa.

It is also a grand example of globalization at work — from its American designers and traffic engineers to its German roof engineers and local project architects, all putting together an innovative product fashioned out of materials imported from six different countries.

CERTIFICATES OF MERIT

INNOVATIVE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW PROJECT

(Less than 150,000 square feet)

Chancery
Auckland, New Zealand
Owner: Chancery Ltd.
Architect: Ignite
Designers: Grant Harris and Ricky Do
General Contractor: Multiplex Construction

Mercado Plaza
Palm Springs, Calif.
Owner/Management Company: John Wessman, Wessman Development Co.
Architect: Robert J. Altevers, AIA, Altevers Associates
General Contractor: R.D. Olson Construction

YM Square Harajuku Tokyo
Owner: Yoku Moku Co.
Management Company: Takenaka Corp.
Architect/Designer: Takenaka Corp.
General Contractor: Takenaka Corp.

(150,000-500,000 square feet)
Garden Walk Makuhari
Mihama-Ku, Chiba, Japan
Owner/Management Company: Mitsui Fudosan
Architect/General Contractor: Mitsui Kensetsu
Designer: RTKL International

Harbour Town Regional Shopping Centre
Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
Owner: Lewis Land Group of Cos., ING Real Estate
Management Company: Kingridge Finance
Architect/Designer: The Buchan Group
General Contractor: Multiplex Construction

Sadyba Best Mall
Warsaw, Poland
Owner/Management Company: Sadyba Centre
Architect/Designer: Pawel W. Gralinski
General Contractor: Hochtief Poland

Salamanca Train Station
Salamanca, Spain
Owner: Riofisa
Management Company: Riofisa
Architect: Antonio Fernandez Alba
Designer: RTKL International
General Contractor: Eralan

The Shops at North Bridge
Chicago
Owner: RN 124/125 Co. (The John Buck Co.)
Management Company: The John Buck Co.
Architect/Designer: Belluschi/OWP&P Architects
General Contractor: AMEC Construction Management

(More than 500,000 square feet)
Bonaire (mixed-use development)
Aldaia, Valencia, Spain
Owners: Riofisa/Rodamco
Management Company: Riofisa
Architect: Idom Ingeniería y Consultoría
Designer: RTKL International
General Contractor: Necso

Mall Marina Arauco
Viña del Mar, Quinto Region, Chile
Owner/Management Company: Inmobiliaria Mall Viña del Mar
Architect/Designer: Pfeifer & Zurdo Arquitectos
General Contractor: Desco-Tecsa

Stonebriar Center
Frisco, Texas
Owner: Stonebriar Mall Limited Partnership/General Growth Properties
Management Company: General Growth Properties
Architect/Designer: ELS Architecture and Urban Design
General Contractor: Vratsinas Construction Co.

RENOVATION OR EXPANSION OF AN EXISTING PROJECT

(150,000-500,000 square feet)
Al Jimi Shopping Center
Al Ain, Abu Dhabi Emirate, United Arab Emirates
Owner: Al Ain Municipal Authority
Management Company: Addar Real Estate Services
Architect/Designer: Keo International Consultants
General Contractor: Pivot Engineering and General Contracting Co.

(More than 500,000 square feet)
Hillcrest Mall
Richmond Hill, Ontario
Owner: Ontrea
Management: Cadillac Fairview Corp.
Architect: Petroff Partners Architects
Designer: Pappas Design Studio
General Contractor: Vanbots

NorthEast Mall
Hurst, Texas
Owner/Management Company: Simon Property Group
Architect: RTKL Associates
Designer: Barry Hughes
General Contractor: DPMI

Tacoma Mall
Tacoma, Washington
Owner/Management Company: Simon Property Group
Architect: EJD & Associates Co.
Designer: Callison Architecture
General Contractor: DPMI

Town Center at Boca Raton
Boca Raton, Fla.
Owner/Management Company: Simon Property Group
Architect/General Contractor: DPMI
Designer: RTKL Associates

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