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Shopping Centers Today -> October 2001
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OHIO PLANS TO REFURBISH DOWNTOWN HUDSON
Hudson Village Development Co. is hoping that a public referendum will approve its plans to refurbish a portion of historic downtown Hudson, Ohio, with a mixed-use development that includes retail.If approved in November, the referendum will allow for the addition of 100,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and office space to the city’s downtown.
The Hudson, Ohio-based company is seeking tenants for the project through Creative Realty Group of Pepper Pike, Ohio, its leasing agent. In particular, Hudson Village Development Co. is looking for national clothing retailers, restaurants and home decorations retailers. The downtown area already includes an 8,000-square-foot Gap store, and the retailer is negotiating for more space in the new area. The area to be developed is located directly behind Hudson’s old, historic Main Street buildings with their retail storefronts. It will include small upscale shops, a community library, restaurants and apartment spaces over offices, all in keeping with a national trend toward building lifestyle centers. Dorsky Hodgson & Partners of Cleveland will design the project to complement the town’s New England-style architecture, and it will incorporate a park area that can accommodate community events and sidewalks with cafes.URBAN RETAIL PROPERTIES RENOVATING TWO CHICAGO MALLS
Urban Retail Properties Co. is renovating two Chicago-area shopping centers — Water Tower Place and North Riverside Park Mall.Water Tower Place is a mixed-use complex that includes a seven-level shopping center, the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, corporate and professional office space, condominium space and a parking facility. This is the first major renovation for the building, which is 25 years old and is widely considered to be a Chicago landmark. The renovation will include comfortable seating with a living room atmosphere in the department stores and four illuminated three-story bay windows to increase the building’s visibility on Michigan Avenue. The building will receive a new glass-enclosed lobby that will extend about 12 feet to the building’s front pillars; a fountain in the lobby spouting water more than two stories into the air; and a marble, granite and carpeted floor in the Michigan Avenue lobby. Renovations on Water Tower Place should be completed by November, in time for the holiday shopping season.
At North Riverside Park Mall, Urban Retail Properties is hoping to increase traffic flow to J.C. Penney and Carson Pirie Scott, two of the four anchor tenants. The renovation will upgrade escalator service and add a centrally located stainless steel and glass elevator. Additional improvements call for new signage, lighting and porcelain floors for the mall. Located in North Riverside, Ill., the 1.2 million-square-foot super-regional mall features 130 stores.WENTZVILLE COMMONS NEARS COMPLETION OF PHASE 2
Four tenants have agreed to lease space in Wentzville Commons, nearly completing the two-phase power center being built in Wentzville, a city outside of St. Louis.The Home Depot opened a 116,000-square-foot store at the center this spring, serving as an anchor for Phase 2 of the project. Radio Shack, an H&R Block office and a Papa John’s restaurant are all expected to open locations at the center by November.
The Desco Group, a locally based developer, is building the power center in this burgeoning market. Wentzville is located in St. Charles County, one of Missouri’s fastest-growing counties. City officials project that its population will increase to 43,000 by 2015, up from an estimated 9,000 in 2000.
Steve Houston, a spokesman for Desco, said the shopping center would also feature six outparcels. In early September, Clayton, Mo.-based Commerce Bank and Jack in the Box had purchased two of the outlots.
“There are four more outlots left,” Houston said. “Once those are snapped up, the development is finished.”
Wentzville Commons is located near Interstate 70, at the corner of Pearce Boulevard and Wentzville Parkway. Houston said the center already attracts shoppers from as far as 40 miles away.
Phase 1 of the power center was completed when Schnucks opened a 61,000-square-foot supermarket on the site. Two salons, a dry cleaner, a sandwich shop and a wireless communications store, each with 1,400-square-foot sites, joined the grocery anchor in late February.
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