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Lifestyle Change

By Sunil Taneja

Shopco plans to drop the word “mall” from Ridgmar’s name and add a rooftop multiplex cinema.

Two years ago, local consumers were ready to write eulogies for one of Fort Worth, Texas’ biggest enclosed shopping centers.

Among its strengths, Ridgmar Mall was host to the only Neiman Marcus in Tarrant County. The mall also had strong anchor support from the likes of Sears, JC Penney and Dillard’s. Beyond that, however, there wasn’t much left to the shopping center. Occupancy was down to between 35% and 40% in the then 21-year-old center. The 1.08 million-square-foot mall, located on Interstate 30 at Green Oaks Road, had never been renovated, and was faced with strong competition from a nearby property whose owners — The Rouse Co., Columbia, Md. — had maintained a more current tenant mix.

“Over the years,’’ explained Marc Yassky, president of Shopco Advisory Corp. (SAC), “Ridgmar didn’t keep up with the times.’’ An affiliate of New York City-based The Shopco Group, L.P., SAC acquired the shopping center in September 1997 from Ridgmar Associates.

Ridgmar’s faltering status gave Shopco the incentive it needed to enter Fort Worth with “an undiscovered opportunity to take a mall that had very good attributes, but where the potential was not being realized,’’ Yassky said. “We like Fort Worth as a city; it’s fast moving. But other than downtown, there was no first-class shopping in the whole city.’’

In its $60 million bid to revitalize Ridgmar and bring another “first-class’’ shopping destination to Fort Worth, Shopco signed Foley’s to fill a 180,000-square-foot anchor pad, boosting the mall’s GLA to approximately 1.2 million square feet when the store opened in November 1998. Next on the list was signing American Multi-Cinema (AMC) to bring in what is effectively the mall’s sixth anchor, with approximately 95,000 square feet of space scheduled to open next fall on the rooftop.

The unusual location for the 18-screen movie theater serves a couple of purposes.

“For one,’’ explained Jenelle Gossman, Ridgmar’s marketing director, “it doesn’t put too much of a strain on parking on the mall. It is easily accessible from any entrance with escalators to the theater in the center of the mall. Second, with a huge megaplex theater on the roof, you won’t be able to miss us [from the highway].’’

In addition, Yassky pointed out that the traditional mall movie theater located on an end tends to “only help that side of the mall with added traffic. A lot of movie traffic just doesn’t filter through the mall. With the theater in the middle of the project, people are forced to walk through at least half the mall to get to the theater escalators.’’

Although it was more expensive to add the cineplex on the roof because the support structure had to be added to the building, Yassky said putting it on another available pad for an anchor would have eliminated some parking and forced SAC to build a deck to accommodate parking for the 1.5 million people it is expected to draw annually.

Still, the two new anchors are only a small part of the shopping center’s resurgence.

“The mall is being redesigned into three different shopping districts with a unifying streetscape theme,’’ said Gossman. “Tenants are grouped within districts for shopping convenience and to enhance the themes in the arts and fashion, children’s and sports districts.’’

“Every surface inside the mall is going to be new,’’ added Yassky. “The architecture flows from one distinct district to the other, creating some variety and interest while having a single architecture throughout the center.’’

The evolution into more of a lifestyle center also includes the removal of the word “mall’’ from Ridgmar’s official name. The idea, Gossman said, is “to offer a better, more unique shopping experience.’’

By the time the renovation is mostly complete next fall, she said, “Ridgmar will be more than a center where people come to shop. People will come here to catch a movie and have dinner. We want to create a comfortable atmosphere that’s more exciting to be in, as well as more pleasant.’’

“Developers need to do everything possible they can to make shopping centers interesting and entertaining,’’ said Yassky. “The whole feeling of trying to create an experience for the customer is not necessarily adding moving parts and being entertaining in the traditional sense. It’s creating more of an interesting experience while walking through the center.

“It’s not terribly new to do this,’’ he continued. “The Mills Corp. [Arlington, Va.] does the same type of thing. It adds to the entertainment value. With all the competition today from the Internet and other malls, you have to in order to stay competitive.’’

In creating the streetscapes, most of the tenants that have remained since SAC took over have had to relocate their stores at least one time. Some retailers will have relocated twice by the time the rejuvenation is complete so that they could remain open during the process.

Gossman noted that area consumers have shown their support for the changes by boosting specialty same store sales 17% during last year’s holiday season and 13% in the first quarter of this year.

“With all the tenant relocations and the construction maze here,’’ she added, “it is different pretty much every time shoppers come in.” “The sales increases are a testament for the level of community support we are getting.”

The center also is getting retailer support. Yassky expects occupancy at Ridgmar will be back up to at least 75% by April with signed leases, and possibly even 85% by the time the AMC 18 opens on the roof next fall.

“From a leasing aspect,” he said, “it would have been easier to get tenants if we were building a new mall from scratch. It’s very hard to get tenants who were in a mall that didn’t do very well to come back. The fact that we’re 75% signed at this point is indicative of how supportive they have been.”