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THE MASTER OF COMMUNITY RELATIONS

MACERICH’S TRACEY GOTSIS IS EXPLORING NEW FRONTIERS IN MARKETING

By Steve McLinden

As prime land grows scarce, communities and civic groups are wielding unprecedented clout in determining the size and scope of new shopping centers. And often the emissaries that developers send out to pave the way are the ones who make or break a deal.

Few are as accomplished in this subtle art of diplomacy as Tracey P. Gotsis, SCMD, senior vice president of strategic marketing at Macerich. Gotsis and her marketing team are the face of Macerich long before the first shovelful of dirt is turned. With a background as a store manager, mall marketing manager and community point woman for numerous retail projects, Gotsis is a woman for her time.

And what times they are. These days a developer must be not so much an island unto itself as a bridge to the community, Gotsis says. This means acknowledging the human impact of a project from day one. “You can’t just parachute in and say, ‘Give us XYZ, and thank you very much,’ ” she said. “The single biggest challenge facing developers today is this movement of no-growth and slow-growth with active community engagement. So you always have to go in with the notion of starting a dialogue with the community. The whole approach has to be organic. It can’t be contrived.”

Gotsis, who rose through the ranks at Westcor Partners, which Macerich acquired in 2002, says she must wholeheartedly believe that her employer is doing the right thing with a center before she can sell it to a community. “The way I look at it, development is not a right, it’s a privilege,” she said. Fortunately, both companies share that philosophy, she says. The position Gotsis holds is respected at Macerich, which has doubled in size since the Westcor acquisition. Gotsis oversees a busy department of 32 people.

The old, cookie-cutter approach to retail development is a thing of the past, says Gotsis. In fact, the entitlement and permitting processes have grown more complex than ever, with little or no continuity from one town to the next. Municipalities often have a combination of architectural review boards, design review boards, citizen review committees, transportation committees, and planning and zoning commissions involved in the planning phase, among others. And retail buildings built along the seashore, particularly in California, fall under the additional review of a coastal commission. “No two projects are alike,” she said. “It’s like starting from scratch every time. It’s always a roller-coaster ride.”

Not surprisingly, such layers add years to the planning process. “It can be incredibly time-consuming,” she said. “But the more you do on the front end, the better the results. It’s a process of listening and reconciliation. It’s all about patience and doing your homework. Then you go back and refine your approach, and then you go back again.”

Case in point: After working with a range of city and community groups for five years, Macerich won unanimous approval this summer to redevelop the 27-year-old Santa Monica Place as an open-air center with public walkways and a dining deck with ocean views. “The end result is worth it when you have a project that’s embraced by the community as its own,” said Gotsis.

Gotsis was born in Las Cruces, N.M., in 1966, and her family moved to Arizona in 1971. She got her start in the retail business as a part-time saleswoman for apparel chain Casual Corner, at Flagstaff (Ariz.) Mall. Meanwhile, she completed a bachelor’s in marketing and public relations at Northern Arizona University, graduating magna cum laude. She then joined Casual Corner full-time, managing two stores as she grew increasingly curious about the inner workings of shopping centers. While managing the Casual Corner store in Desert Sky Mall, Phoenix, she received an offer from Westcor to become the center’s marketing manager and seized it. “At the time, I was pretty passionate about selling,” she said, “but marketing was my field of study.”

Three years later Gotsis, now married, left Westcor to take a job in Carlsbad, Calif., near San Diego, as marketing manager of Plaza Camino Real. Owner firm CentreMark Properties transferred her to the Plaza at West Covina (Calif.) to market that center’s redevelopment. In 1994 Gotsis found herself serving under yet another corporate flag when Westfield bought CentreMark’s shopping center portfolio.

Then the 1994 Northridge earthquake hit, killing 72 people, injuring 11,000 and causing some $12.5 billion in damage. This was too close to home for Gotsis, who now longed to return to the Phoenix area and her old colleagues. “I always kept in touch with Westcor,” she said. “We both knew I would be back. My best friends were and still are with the company.”

So Gotsis returned to Westcor, which set her to clearing a path for the redevelopment and expansion of Scottsdale Fashion Square, today the largest mall in Arizona. From there it was on to the FlatIron Crossing mall, in Broomfield, Colo., which was completed in 2000. Other Westcor projects Gotsis shepherded include the Chandler (Ariz.) Fashion Center, La Encantada, in Tucson, Ariz., and the Shops at Gainey Village, in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Part of her job is to accommodate Macerich’s tenants. Gotsis was charged with rolling out the Macerich Lumenati initiative, a partnership with the firm’s exclusive luxury retailers that produced a line of luxury malls. She also oversees the Mac 50 program, which is designed to improve communications with the 50 largest Macerich tenants. Mac 50 was launched after Federated Department Stores’ acquisition of May Department Stores Co. left Macerich with vacancies. “Those partnerships with our retailers are designed to make sure we are paying attention to their needs and that we’re reinvesting in our properties,” Gotsis said. As she told her children in explaining the job, “What I really do is connect the dots for everyone.”

Once Macerich has targeted a community for a project, Gotsis opens the dialogue. From the initial meetings with citizens and officials through the permit stage, she has to be on top of every detail. Typically, Gotsis and her team go into a market and determine what that community’s tastes and thresholds are and which retailers may be most compatible with the trade area. Then they enter a seemingly endless stream of civic meetings to discuss the myriad concerns that centers present.

“There really is no formula,” she said. “It’s more of a process, an open-ended process. The foundation we form with the community has to be strong enough for us to knock on doors and sit in living rooms.” Gotsis says her word becomes the company’s word. “I can rely on the operational side of the business to make sure we are doing everything we are supposed to do and then some,” she said. And she encourages the members of her team to join civic organizations and become engaged in the community. “It’s all about credibility,” she said. “And my personal philosophy is always one of transparency. It doesn’t matter if we have good news or bad news to deliver. Crystal-clear communication throughout is absolutely essential.”

One ongoing challenge for Macerich is persuading retailers to go for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, or at least to use sustainable elements in construction. “Those retailers that are on top of this are going to win at the end of the day,” she said. “They’re connecting with a very important value.”

Gotsis finds time to be busy outside her formal job too. She has served on ICSC’s Certified Marketing Designation Committee, helping develop and revise professional tests for marketing managers. She also sits on the executive board of the Fresh Start Women’s Foundation and is active with the Arizona chapter of the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation. She serves at her children’s school as a homeroom mom and a reading-center volunteer. “It’s important that I see my kids at school and talk with their teachers.”

One might wonder how Gotsis unwinds. “I don’t think I ever unwind,” she said. “I’m always on the go. I am [also] a wife, a mom and a daughter. Family is everything to me.” Gotsis even credits her parents for her personal and professional ethics. “I learned early on from my mom and dad about listening and taking the high road. And that has served me well.”

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