Federal Realty's Santana Row brings new beat to San Jose Rockville, Md.-based Federal Realty Investment Trust is developing Santana Row, a 2 million sq. ft. mixed-use project in San Jose, Calif. The development will include 575,000 sq. ft. of retail space, 1,200 residential units and a 200-room boutique hotel. Construction is expected to begin this spring, with completion slated for spring 2001.
Santana Row's retail component will include an 8-screen cinema, grocery, dry cleaners, shoe repair and barbershop. The urban-village style center will also include plazas and restaurants.
Architects include Alexandria, Va.-based Street Works, acting as master planner, Sandy & Babcock International, Backen Arrigoni & Ross Inc., both based in San Francisco, and The Steinberg Group, San Jose, Calif.
Mills Corp. has grand plans for Opry Mills in Nashville The Mills Corp., Arlington, Va., in partnership with Nashville, Tenn.-based Gaylord Entertainment Co., is developing Opry Mills, a 1.2 million sq. ft. shopping and entertainment complex in Nashville, Tenn. The center's design theme will be based on the city's music heritage with GibsonGuitar Corp. Presents The Gibson Bluegrass Showcase and will include entertainment venues Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World and Nascar Silicon Motor Speedway. Retail anchors will include Barnes & Noble and Bed Bath & Beyond. Jillian's, The Rainforest Cafe, Wolfgang Puck Grand Cafe and Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop are among the restaurants featured. Opry Mills is scheduled to open May 2000.
Urban Shopping Centers is taking it to 'The Streets' Chicago-based Urban Shopping Centers Inc. has broken ground on The Streets at Southpoint, a 1.4 million sq. ft. main-street style regional mall, which will feature 160,000 sq. ft. of open-air retail space in Durham, N.C. Anchors include Nordstrom, Hechts, Hudson-Belk, Sears and JCPenney. Also, an 18-screen Cinemark/IMAX theater and restaurants will anchor the remaining 345,000 sq. ft. The mall is scheduled to open October 2001.
The Streets at Southpoint, along with Citrus Park Town Center in Tampa, Fla., are two projects for which Urban has hired Los Angeles-based RTKL Associates Inc. as architect.
TrizecHahn leads retailers to Desert Passage San Diego-based TrizecHahn Development Corp.'s Desert Passage, a 500,000 sq. ft. retail entertainment center in Las Vegas, will have more than 150 tenants. Anchored by its restaurant and casino components, the project boasts retailers such as Origins, Sephora and Tolstoys Elegant Pens, which will be expanding their Las Vegas presence. Others such Tommy Bahama, The Discovery Channel Store, Napoleon Fine Fashions for Men, Aveda and Build-A-Bear Workshop will be opening their first stores in the area. Restaurants will include Commander's Palace, Anasazi, Blue Note Jazz Club, Bice, Lombardi and Macanudo Steak House. The project, scheduled to open this summer, is 90% leased.
Macerich acquires Santa Monica Place mall The Macerich Co., Santa Monica, Calif., has acquired Santa Monica Place, a 560,000 sq. ft. enclosed regional mall in Santa Monica, Calif., from The Rouse Co., Columbia, Md. The approximately $130 million center was funded by an $80 million first mortgage placed concurrently with the acquisition. The balance of the proceeds were generated from a separate joint venture.
Anchors include Macy's and Robinson-May. The center is 95% occupied with retailers such as AnnTaylor, Brookstone, Eddie Bauer, The Gap and Warner Brothers Studio Store.
Atlanta's historic west side slated for renovation A historic area in Atlanta known as a major commercial center to African-Americans during segregation has been slated for renovation. The west side of Atlanta, where Martin Luther King Jr. is known to have dined, is being revitalized by two different projects.
First, the $130 million Historic Westside Village is a joint venture of Atlanta-based developers Harold Dawson Inc. and The Integral Group LLC. The project will be a 1 million sq. ft., mixed-use development of which 200,000 sq. ft. will be retail space. This component will include a multi-screen theater and restaurants. Other areas of the village include 178,000 sq. ft. of office space, 416,500 sq. ft. of residential space and a possible 136-room hotel. The project is expected to be completed by mid-summer 2002.
Turner Associates/Architects and Planners Inc. and Cooper Carry, both of Atlanta, are the designers and the Atlanta Development Authority is serving as master developer. Funding for the project will come from the Atlanta Empowerment Zone, tax-exempt revenue bonds, Tax Allocation District and conventional financing.
The second project is being developed by Atlanta-based TuckerMott Co. and Silverman Construction. Westside Urban Market will be a 189,000 sq. ft. mixed-use project combining retail boutiques, art galleries, a garden center and restaurants. The three-phase development is designed to give a sense of community with sidewalks, vine-covered arcades and garden patches planted with sunflowers and organic vegetables. Phase I is expected to be completed in February 2000 while Phase II and Phase III are still in the planning stages.
Phase I of the project reflects a diversity of architectural styles, with renovations to a 1950s liquor store into a Mondo coffee house and a 1920s meat-packing plant into a Star Provisions gourmet market. Other retail shops include The Curtain Exchange drapery company, Macon Fine Art Gallery and The Garden Path nursery. A special events area, which is already open, hosts flea markets and a farmer's market on the weekends.
Phases II and III will add more retail, bringing the total to 90,000 sq. ft., and will also contain 55,000 sq. ft. of office and 44,000 sq. ft. of residential space.
Financing for the Westside Urban Market is conventional and is being provided by Atlanta-based SunTrust Bank.
Broadcast Center's on the right wavelength in Reading Broadcast Center, a 700,000 sq. ft., $55 million retail power center in Reading, Pa., is being developed by Lemoyne, Pa.-based Harrison & Grass LLC. The center will be anchored by Target, Barnes & Noble, Michael's and PETsMART. Other retail includes Weis Markets, Dick's Sporting Goods, Babies "R" Us, Ross Dress For Less and Old Navy Clothing Co. Specialty retailers and casual restaurants will round out the project. The center is expected to open fall 2000.
GGP creates futuristic design at Stonebriar Mall Centre (renderings) With its Stonebriar Mall Centre in Dallas, Chicago-based General Growth Properties is giving the city a taste of furturistic retail. Berkeley, Calif.-based ELS/Elbasani & Logan Architects designed the 1.5 million sq. ft. superregional center to be a futuristic interpretation of traditional rural building forms.
The project will feature five department stores, a 24-screen AMC theater, an NHL-sized ice arena and restaurants. The center is scheduled to open fall 2000.
The continuing saga of e-commerce: left in the dust? I thought I was finished last month when I did my spiel about the precarious relationship between bricks-and-mortar and clicks-and-mortar and being left in the dust. But we have another development. On November 24, The Wall Street Journal reported that Saint Louis, Mo.-based developer Hycel Partners 1 LP sent a letter to retail tenants at The Saint Louis Galleria mall informing them they were prohibited from in-store "signs, insignias, decals or other advertising devices, which promote and encourage the purchase of merchandise via e-commerce."
Mark Rivers, executive vice president of The Mills Corp., Arlington, Va., said it best in anABCNews.com interview (Nov. 24) - "I thought the developer was Stanley Kubrick: Eyes Wide Shut." As I said last month, e-commerce is an inevitable force that must be reckoned with. You can't pretend it is not there and hope it goes away.
In fact, I was surprised to find out that some developers and retailers believe the Internet is driving traffic to their stores and malls. The trend seems to be toward consumers going online to research their purchases and then going to the physical store to see or buy the merchandise.
Back to The Saint Louis Galleria. The reaction of most of the retailers was either to contact their attorneys or ignore Hycel's request (Some did both.) A few stores complied, although Hycel wouldn't reveal names.
I called Mark Zorensky, president of Hycel Properties Co., but he would not take my call. I wanted to find out what was behind his decision to ban e-commerce banners and ads. Instead, I was given a public relations person to call and was told they would provide me with a forthcoming statement made by Zorensky about The Saint Louis Galleria.
The statement turned out to be a retraction of Zorensky's and Hycel's stand on e-commerce. "Because of the magnitude of this issue, we have decided to change our position," Zorensky says in the release. "We feel this issue will continue to receive a lot of attention, and this is something we all must address."
Hycel also says it looks forward to finding a way for all involved - retailers, shoppers, developers and the online community - to work together to find an e-commerce strategy that works for everyone. The final sentence of the release says, "We will continue to be supportive of this collaborative effort." Zorensky and Hycel have realized their mistake, it seems, and they have decided it is better to go with this trend than fight what appears to be an inevitable force.
This turnabout - as well as the original uproar the policy caused at The Galleria - confirms the power of the Internet and confirms my original stand. The technology of e-commerce is here to stay and we must embrace it.