The 50 states of retail development

June 29, 2018
June 29, 2018

Developers are moving dirt across the country: building new retail and mixed-use centers, and renovating and rehabbing existing properties. Here’s the view from 30,000 feet

Alabama Altera Development and Economic Development Strategies of America are putting the finishing touches on the Village at Brock’s Gap and the Village at Crosswinds retail projects. The former is a 77,000-square-foot lifestyle center in the fast-growing city of Hoover. Among its tenants are O’Henry’s Coffee; the Organic Harvest Grocery Store & Café; The Whole Scoop Ice Cream Shop; and the Pointe Dance Arts school. The latter center, in Phenix City, a stone’s throw from Georgia’s Fort Benning, will have a 40,000-square-foot Renfroe’s Market as anchor.

Alaska Construction is set to begin on a downtown Anchorage mixed-use project called Downtown Edge at The Rail. The 11-acre development, near Port of Alaska, will comprise luxury town homes, apartment suites, an outdoor performance venue and a park, in addition to retail and restaurant space. This public-private venture of the Alaska Railroad and local developers is being done with financing from First National Bank Alaska.

Arizona Arizona Center, a 1 million-square-foot office and retail project billed as downtown Phoenix’s original entertainment destination, is undergoing a $25 million expansion and repositioning to help stimulate growth in the central business district. Owners Parallel Capital Partners and Angelo Gordon & Co. are opening up the 220,000-square-foot enclosed center to generate interaction with the street. They are also marketing space for stores, restaurants and entertainment venues to join existing eateries and a 24-screen AMC cinema. The partnership sold parcels to developers set to build a 200-room AC Hotel by Marriott and 350 apartments.

Arkansas The mixed-use Angelo’s Grove, in Marion, Ark., whose development stalled during the recession, is set to take off now with the addition of Fairfield Inn and Best Western hotels to the existing Hampton Inn. Among the food tenants are Colton’s Steak House & Grill and Zaxby’s. Developers Kenny Farrell and Dick Leike plan to add a convention center, a movie theater and as many as 400 condos. Angelo’s Grove is a mere 12-minute drive on the interstate from downtown Memphis, Tenn.

California A real estate subsidiary of Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management continues to make progress on the $180 million redevelopment of Manhattan Village, a 573,000-square-foot mixed-use property in Manhattan Beach. The focal point is the Village Shops, a 53,300-square-foot open-air restaurant and retail expansion set for completion in 2020. The site is adjacent to a mall that has undergone a $12 million interior renovation and in which a modernized Macy’s is to replace and consolidate existing Macy’s sites later this year. A nearby grocery-anchored center has undergone renovation as well. JLL has completed leases with restaurants that are set to open in 2019.

Colorado Simon’s Denver Premium Outlets is scheduled to open this fall, bringing roughly 80 tenants totaling 330,000 square feet to this center in the suburb of Thornton, about 10 miles north of downtown Denver. The lineup has yet to be disclosed, but Simon says the categories will include apparel and accessories retailers; athletics and outdoors clothing and footwear providers; restaurants; and home furnishings and electronics stores. Real estate projects valued at some $350 million in the aggregate are under construction within a mile of the open-air shopping center. This is set to be the 92nd of Simon’s outlet centers.

Connecticut Construction is under way on GGP’s SoNo Collection, a $525 million regional mall in Norwalk that is set to bring roughly 100 shops and restaurants to this city. The project, scheduled to open in the fall of 2019, will have Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s as anchors, plus an additional 417,000 square feet of retail and roughly 40,000 square feet of food-and-beverage tenants.

Delaware Fusco Management and Cornerstone Tracy have teamed up to turn the College Square shopping center, in Newark, into a 24-hour community with “walkable and bikeable active lifestyle center, high-quality apartments designed for working professionals and empty nesters,” according to Frank Vassallo IV, president of Fusco Management. The plans call for specialty retail shops, cafés and restaurants, and nearly 300 luxury residences.

Florida Whitman Family Development has launched a $400 million expansion of its Bal Harbour Shops, in Bal Harbour Village, after securing a $150 million mortgage from a SunTrust Bank–led consortium earlier this year. The landlord is adding nearly 350,000 square feet to the roughly 463,500-square-foot property, which will provide room for an additional 70 luxury boutiques upon completion, in 2023. Whitman Family has thus far netted the first Florida location of Barneys New York, which is to occupy 53,000 square feet at the mall. The Freds at Barneys New York restaurant is to open along with the store.

Georgia RocaPoint Partners and Georgetown Co. are approaching the early 2019 opening of Halcyon, a $370 million mixed-use community in Forsyth County, north of Atlanta. The 135-acre project will feature 480,000 square feet of retail and office space, two hotels, nearly 700 residential units and a 1,200-space parking deck. Along with a CMX luxury movie theater, committed tenants include a brewpub operated by Cherry Street Brewing and several restaurants that have signed on to the market hall.

Hawaii The Howard Hughes Corp. has broken ground on the Central Plaza portion of its 60-acre Ward Village mixed-use center in Honolulu. Central Plaza will provide open green space amid the six mixed-use towers the company is building there.

Idaho A 60,000-square-foot Hobby Lobby, an Olive Garden restaurant and a major upgrade and expansion to a Cinema West multiplex theater are scheduled to open this year at Magic Valley Mall, in Twin Falls. These follow an interior overhaul that Salt Lake City–based Woodbury Corp. began last year. The company is out to bring new concepts into the community, following the exits of Macy’s and Sears from this 32-year-old mall. The Magic Valley Cinema 13 overhaul includes addition of an Imax-like theater and food-and-beverage service.

Illinois A Whole Foods Market will open this fall in Mellody Farm, a mixed-use center Regency Centers is developing in the northern Chicago suburb of Vernon Hills, with 270,000 square feet designated for retailers and restaurants. HomeGoods, Nordstrom Rack and REI are to open next spring. Regency broke ground in April 2017 with the goal of creating a community gathering space, toward which end the firm has peppered the project with fountains, fire features, parks and public art. Focus Development and Atlantic Realty Partners are building 260 luxury apartments at this project.

Indiana The owners of Circle Centre Mall, in downtown Indianapolis, are completing a multimillion-dollar renovation of the property’s interiors, exteriors, parking garages and more. This is the largest upgrade of the 800,000-square-foot mall since business interests joined Simon to develop it some 20 years ago. The mall will now get upgraded entrances, lights, elevators and facades; and the food court is to become a dining pavilion with new seating and lounge areas. The makeover follows the announcement that Carson’s would close its 145,000-square-foot department store in the first half of 2018.

Iowa A 218,000-square-foot Mills Fleet Farm store scheduled to open this summer will anchor Sunnybrook Village, a $50 million, 350,000-square-foot shopping center nearing completion in Sioux City. Mills Fleet Farm, a general merchandiser, offers farm and garden supplies; hunting and fishing gear; housewares; automotive goods; hardware; and apparel. Sunnybrook Village will also contain a tire center, a car wash, and a fuel and convenience store. Hobby Lobby is relocating to a 52,800-square-foot store in the shopping center. Developer Anthony Properties has plans to recruit more national operators for 2019 openings.

Kansas Price Bros. Management Co. continues to make progress on BluHawk, a $750 million, 277-acre mixed-use project in Overland Park. A 135,000-square-foot grocery-anchored center has already opened, and revised plans for the next phase of construction call for an additional 70,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space; a 300,000-square-foot, indoor multisport complex operated by Sport Stable; a 3,500-seat arena and community center; and a 99-room hotel. Later phases will add a 317,000-square-foot outlet center, offices and hotels, plus a 40,000-square foot Cosmosphere family entertainment center.

Kentucky The opening of the James E. Pepper Distillery last month in Lexington heralds the official return of the distillery district in this city’s long-neglected industrial corridor, northeast of downtown, once synonymous with the production of bourbon. The $10.4 million, 52,100-square-foot distillery is housed in the distilling company’s former buildings, now known as the Pepper Campus, which has become the focal point for development in the district. Developer Barry McNees spearheaded the area’s revival, and over the past few years, nearly 30 shops, restaurants, entertainment venues and other businesses have migrated to the neighborhood, among them Burn Boot Camp, Elkhorn Tavern, Ethereal Brewing and Goodfella’s Pizza. Town homes and apartments are in the works too.

Louisiana Students returning to Louisiana State University this fall will be greeted by Nicholson Gateway, a 28-acre, mixed-use, retail and student housing complex offering 40,000 square feet of retail as well as study areas and green spaces. Stirling Properties is handling the construction, management and leasing of the retail portion. The development will transform one of the largest remaining underdeveloped tracts of university property, turning an overlooked area into a dynamic new corridor.

Maine Rock Row is a fitting name for the 1 million-square-foot, mixed-use development scheduled to open next summer on the border of Maine’s Portland and Westbrook: The project is going up on the site of a 26-acre quarry. Waterstone Properties Group, of Needham, Mass., is constructing a comprehensive community, with retail, recreation, restaurants, housing, offices and more. The designer is Wakefield Beasley & Associates, architect firm for Avalon, in Alpharetta, Ga., and also for Atlanta’s Battery Atlanta and Atlantic Station. The developer and Westbrook have completed a $12 million tax increment financing agreement.

Maryland Retail Properties of America has plans to begin redeveloping the 111,000-square-foot Boulevard at the Capital Centre this year, near the Largo Town Center Metro station, in suburban Washington, D.C. Together with construction of the University of Maryland Capital Region medical center, which will occupy about half the Capital Centre property, the project is set to foster a Prince George’s County plan for a 24-hour downtown district. An AMC cinema and a handful of other tenants currently occupy Capital Centre, and the plans call for adding as much as 3 million square feet of retail, residential, hospitality, medical and community green space, in phases.

Massachusetts Gazit Horizons purchased 467 Washington St., a vacant 10,500-square-foot, three-level building in Boston’s Downtown Crossing district. This is Gazit Horizons’ second acquisition in the submarket. The firm says several retailers have expressed interest in the location.

Michigan Five & Main, a $100 million, 55-acre mixed-use project dubbed southeast Michigan’s first major retail real estate development in a decade, is scheduled to break ground in downtown Commerce Township next spring. The first phase will consist of 341,100 square feet of retail and restaurants, according to Robert Bruce Aikens Jr., vice chairman of Birmingham, Mich.–based Robert B. Aikens & Associates. Later phases call for 300 luxury apartments, a food market, a cinema, health clubs and some nature trails. Completion is set for the fall of 2020.

Minnesota The 601W Cos. is leading a $190 million effort to turn the Dayton’s department store in Nicollet Mall, in downtown Minneapolis, into a restaurant, retail and office project. Work began last year on this 1.2 million-square-foot historical renovation, after 601W Cos. paid $59 million in cash for the three-building property, which dates to 1902 and whose most recent owner-occupier was Macy’s. The Dayton’s Project, as the development is to be called, will contain a food hall in the basement, shops on the skyway level, and offices and a health club on the upper floors. Expectations are that the project will begin welcoming retail tenants in the summer of 2019.

Mississippi Edgewater Mall, a 900,000-square-foot property with some 50 years of history in Biloxi, will add an eight-screen luxury Premiere cinema this fall and a 24,0000-square-foot Sky Zone Trampoline Park facility next spring. The new entertainment venues are part of a repositioning that has brought in such specialty tenants as PlayLive Nation and Barefoot Billy’s. Mall owner Jim Wilson & Associates demolished a former Sears to make way for the cinema and a green space with 20,000 square feet of landscaped gardens. Moreover, the renovation also involves updating entrances, improving traffic access and upgrading the food court.

Missouri Construction continues on the $185 million first phase of City Foundry STL, the ambitious redevelopment of an 89-year-old manufacturing plant for motor castings and automobile parts on 15 acres in the St. Louis midtown. The initial phase, set to open late next year, calls for 105,000 square feet of shops, 111,000 square feet of creative office space and 122,000 square feet of entertainment and restaurant space — including a 20-stall food hall. To date, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema; game-and-bar concept Punch Bowl Social; and the German-beer-hall-inspired Fassler Hall have all signed up. The St. Louis–based Lawrence Group is the developer.

Montana Spring Prairie Center, in Kalispell, Mont., is moving ahead into its fourth phase, with the opening of the REI and Panera Bread anchors. The development will also welcome three new businesses: Kay Jewelers, MOD Pizza and T-Mobile. The Harbor Freight Tools store is currently under construction. As for existing tenants, those include Costa Vida Fresh Mexican Grill, Hobby Lobby, HomeGoods and SpringHill Suites by Marriott.

Nebraska Noddle Cos. continues to develop West Farm, a $1.2 billion mixed-use community in Omaha on 500 acres previously owned by the Village of Boys Town and a local family. Applied Underwriters will anchor the project with a new corporate campus. When built out, West Farm will total 500,000 square feet of retail space; 1.4 million square feet of offices; apartments; town homes; single-family homes; and a hotel. A senior-living company plans to build an $84 million facility there. About a third of the land, which runs along the West Dodge corridor, will be devoted to trails and recreational uses.

Nevada A 13-screen Galaxy cinema is set to anchor the 170,000-square-foot retail component of The Bend, a 14-acre mixed-use project proposed in Las Vegas. Dapper Development says it will break ground on the retail portion sometime about the beginning of 2019 and that it will market the center as the largest dining, entertainment and shopping campus in the city’s fast-growing southwest valley. Developer Magnum Opes Corp. is scheduled to begin constructing a 140,000-square-foot office building at the Bend over the next few months. That project would sit across the street from an IKEA store that opened in 2016.

New Hampshire Tuscan Village, now under construction in Salem, comprises nearly 1.2 million square feet of retail space, 243,500 square feet of office space, 280 residential units and 200 hotel rooms.

New Jersey Triple Five Group has set a spring 2019 target for the opening of its American Dream Meadowlands — a 3 million-square-foot retail-entertainment complex outside New York City. The project will also house 16 acres of indoor parks, an aquarium, an ice rink and other entertainment space.

New Mexico Goodman Realty Group has plans to redevelop Albuquerque’s Winrock Town Center into a mixed-use center with two hotels and a 350-unit apartment complex. The former Montgomery Ward building will be converted to restaurant, retail and office space. A Toys ‘R’ Us is to be replaced by a gym. Skechers and Men’s Wearhouse are among the tenants already signed on. The anticipated completion date is 2023.

New York Target has several stores in the planning throughout the five boroughs of New York City. The latest of these is at 5200 Kings Highway, in the Flatlands section of Brooklyn. The retailer will open a 50,000-square-foot store on the site of a closed auto mall in 2020. This smaller-format store will be the seventh Target in Brooklyn and the 27th in New York City. Landlord Bridges Development Group says it will lease an additional 25,000 square feet of retail adjacent to the Target.

North Carolina Columbia Development is moving forward on the development of Fenton, a $1 billion mixed-use community on 92 acres in Cary. A 125,000-square-foot Wegmans supermarket will anchor 440,000 square feet of open-air retail in the project, which is expected to open in 2020 and is located within the Research Triangle. The developer has also set aside 36,000 square feet for a boutique movie theater and aims to create a space for Cary that will offer chef-driven restaurants, stores and entertainment. Two boutique hotels, 800 residential units and 1 million square feet of offices are also part of the plan.

North Dakota Duluth Trading Co. is set to open its first North Dakota store, a 16,000-square-foot unit in West Fargo. The company says it expects to hire about 40 employees to work at the new store. The 30-plus-store chain specializes in casual and work apparel and accessories.

Ohio Pinecrest, a $240 million mixed-use project in the Cleveland suburb of Orange Village, began welcoming tenants in May to the 400,000-square-foot component dedicated to retailers, restaurants and entertainment. Tenants scheduled to open through the summer include Club Pilates, Pinstripes, Pottery Barn, REI and Shake Shack. Duck Donuts, Next Door Eatery and Woodhouse Day Spa are among the tenants scheduled to open in the fall. The development also includes offices, a hotel, apartments and a parking garage. Developers Fairmount Properties and DiGeronimo Cos. say they look toward a grand opening sometime in September.

Oklahoma TriGate Capital acquired the Bryant Square power center, in Edmond, for $38 million this year from InvenTrust Properties and pegged JAH Realty to lease and manage. Bed Bath & Beyond, Old Navy, Petco, Ross Dress for Less and Stein Mart anchor the 42-year-old, 265,600-square-foot center. This was one of the first large shopping centers in Edmond, a suburb of Oklahoma City. A major renovation last year demolished and replaced old outparcel stores and modernized most of the facade. The center has welcomed several new tenants, including Kay Jewelers, Ulta Beauty and Verizon.

Oregon Regal Entertainment Group will open a luxury 14-screen movie theater at Lloyd Center, in downtown Portland, early next year as part of an ongoing $120 million renovation of that 58-year-old mall. Over the past several years, owner EB Arrow has added offices, built a food court, overhauled an ice rink and remodeled the three-story winding staircase. The movie theater will occupy part of the former Sears store at this three-story, 1.2-million square foot property, which was the largest shopping center in the country when it opened. EB Arrow has plans to add a live-music venue and more restaurants.

Pennsylvania City Fitness, Iron Hill Brewery, T.J.Maxx and Wawa are among tenants soon to join MOM’s Organic Market and AT&T at East Market, a $600 million redevelopment of an entire block in Philadelphia’s Center City. In the $250 million current first phase, National Real Estate Development razed an old retail building and replaced it with 105,000 square feet of retail space spread between two, two-story podiums. An apartment tower recently opened, and construction has begun on a second one that will dedicate some units to ROOST, an extended stay concept. Future phases at East Market include an historic building renovation and more retail space in mixed-use towers.

Rhode Island Developer Robert Kempenaar has plans to build a 17,000-square-foot project with a coffee shop, retail and office space, and four second-floor apartments in place of the former Citizens Bank building, in Middletown. Citizens Bank would remain to be an anchor tenant, with a much smaller building than before. The opening is anticipated in early 2019, and the project will cost about $5 million.

South Carolina Hughes Investments recently hired The Shopping Center Group to attract retail, restaurant and entertainment tenants to its $100 million BridgeWay Station town center, on 40 acres in Greenville County. The 1 million-square-foot development, just southeast of downtown Greenville, will comprise 300,000 square feet of retail, 180,000 square feet of offices, nearly 400 apartments and a 175-room hotel. The plans also call for a community center, 16 acres of green space and some pedestrian and bike paths with access to a 22-mile regional trail. Hughes Investments is building upon 430,000 square feet of offices nearby that house Samsung and other high-profile tenants.

South Dakota Stropiq has plans to develop the $500 million Williston (N.D.) Crossing — a 219-acre mixed-use project with a water park and a hotel, some big-box stores, and housing and office space, in a parklike setting. The project’s location is to be near a planned airport.

Tennessee Capitalizing on Nashville’s growing tourism industry, developers OliverMcMillan and Spectrum Emery have embarked on a massive, $430 million mixed-use project next door to the city’s premier music venues and the 4-year-old Music City Center convention hall. Fifth & Broadway, as the project is called, is replacing the former convention facility with some 235,000-square-feet of retail, restaurant and entertainment space, a 25-story office building and a 34-story residential tower. The project is to begin opening in late 2019. So far the tenants include the National Museum of African American Music, a 100,000-square-foot food hall and retailer H&M.

Texas An affiliate of Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway hired Biederman Redevelopment Ventures to oversee the programming and events at the $1.5 billion, 400-acre Grandscape mixed-use community now in development in The Colony. Anchored by a 560,000-square-foot Nebraska Furniture Mart that opened in 2015, Grandscape will eventually total nearly 4 million square feet of retail, entertainment and dining attractions. The first phase features a handful of restaurants already open, including Rock & Brews and Lava Cantina, and such additional tenants as a 16-screen Galaxy movie theater, an Andretti Indoor Karting & Games facility, and an outdoor amphitheater. A 300,000-square-foot Scheels All Sports is to open in early 2020.

Utah A Lowe’s home-improvement store is moving into Canyon Creek Commercial Center, in Spanish Fork. This is the latest addition to a 240-acre mixed-use community along the Wasatch Front that is building upon an existing retail base anchored by Costco and Walmart. Woodbury Corp. and WPI Enterprises completed the first phase of this 245,000-square-foot retail and restaurant expansion last year, welcoming several businesses to the center, including Ace Hardware, Cinemark, T.J.Maxx and Ulta Beauty. The 140,000-square-foot Lowe’s is to break ground this summer and to open next year. Broader development plans call for offices, a health care facility and a hotel.

Vermont Target is finally coming to Vermont this year, in South Burlington. Vermont is the only state without one. Plans call for a store that is smaller than Target’s usual size, as plans for a larger one were shot down in 2012.

Virginia The Meridian Group is moving along on The Boro, a mixed-use development that could eventually measure 4.2 million square feet on 18 acres near the Greensboro Metro station in the heart of Tysons. The 1.7 million-square-foot first phase will comprise 260,000 feet of retail, 400,000 square feet offices, 800 residential units and a park. Among the tenants is a 15-screen Kerasotes ShowPlace cinema, which is scheduled to open sometime this summer. Whole Foods is to open a 70,000-square-foot flagship next year with a food court, a beer-brewing operation and a demo kitchen. Meridian Group formed a joint venture with Kettler to develop housing and some retail space.

Washington Gramor Development is leading a public-private partnership in the development of The Waterfront, a $1.5 billion mixed-use community on 32 acres along the Columbia River. The $250 million first phase is under way and will feature 85,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space, nearly 300 apartments, a 138-room hotel, 40 condominiums and a waterfront park. When fully built, The Waterfront will contain 250,000 square feet of retail and restaurants, as many as 3,300 residential units, additional hotel rooms and about 1.3 million square feet of offices. The first two restaurants, WildFin American Grill and Twigs Bistro & Martini Bar, are scheduled to open this summer.

West Virginia Interstate Realty, of Bristol, Tenn., owned by West Virginia native Brent Roswall, is building a $100 million complex in Barboursville called Tanyard Station, which will contain retail, restaurants, a hotel, a bank, and a gas station and convenience store.

Wisconsin CBL Properties kicked off a $28.5 million redevelopment of the former Sears building at its 1 million-square foot Brookfield Square mall in Milwaukee. The 125,500-square-foot project’s first phase will bring dining and entertainment options WhirlyBall and BistroPlex to the market early next year. Subsequent phases will expand restaurant options and nonretail uses. CBL acquired the Sears property last year.

Wyoming The owner of a cattle ranch south of Cheyenne wants to build a massive extension to the city. The development, called Sweetgrass, would include housing, offices, retail, entertainment, schools and a golf course, among other uses, on 2,350 acres.

By Joe Gose

Contributor, Shopping Centers Today

Courtesy of ICSC