mall development

West Park Plaza to be transformed into 'lifestye mall'

West Park Plaza, the '70s-era retail center that has fallen on hard times lately, will soon undergo a multimillion-dollar transformation into a "lifestyle mall" featuring a pedestrian-friendly design that is reminiscent of historic Main Street retailing centers.

That's the vision being promoted by Bob McDonald, a Washington state developer who recently purchased the plaza at 1700 West and Grand Avenue in Billings. His bold multiyear plan calls for demolishing the mall's underused central corridor and replacing it with a landscaped courtyard that encourages window shopping.

As Billings develops, most of the large national retailers are looking to locate closer to Interstate 90. But McDonald believes there is still a market for a neighborhood retail center that will offer about 175,000 square feet of space for retail stores and business offices. Read more...

Westfield to test limit of consumerism

Exactly 100 years ago, millions gathered on this very spot to marvel at astonishing feats of human endeavour and ingenuity. And now they are about to return in their millions once again - but for a different reason. They will be going shopping.

This 43-acre site is part of British history. It was not only the site of the first London Olympics, the 1908 Games, but also the location of the great Franco-British Exhibition, one of the wonders of the Edwardian age and a shameless display of imperial clout. It involved a construction project so dazzling and extensive that the area has been known as White City ever since.

A century on, West London now has another behemoth on the same spot.

Britain will not see a construction project like it between now and the opening of the 2012 Olympic Games for the simple reason that it is currently the largest single building site on these shores. Not even the new Wembley Stadium nor the Millennium Dome rival the space of the Westfield London shopping centre. Read more...

Dubai Mall is finally here

The aptly titled Dubai Mall opens at 10am on Thursday morning along with Dubai Aquarium and Discovery Centre, Dubai Ice Rink and The Gold Souk.

The flagship development from Emaar, part of the Downtown Burj Dubai development, covers an internal floor area of 5.9 million square feet and expects to attract 30 million customers in its first year of trade.

But what sets Dubai Mall apart from the dozens of other shopping venues dotted around the city and beyond? Well, the sheer size of it for a start - equivalent to 50 football pitches and home to 1,200 retail outlets and 14,000 parking spaces. Furthermore, in recent years it has become clear that malls in Dubai have become about more than just shopping; they have become something of a lifestyle choice. Read more...

Corbett Centre in talks with more retailers

With key tenants in place at the University of New Brunswick's Corbett Centre property, the company developing the site is working to continue to expand its list of retailers.

Trinity Development Group is the shopping mall development firm partnering with UNB to develop land on Regent Street and Knowledge Park Drive.

With Home Depot, a Michael's arts and crafts supply store, Petcetera, Dollarama and Winners in place and open for business - along with two new eateries - the smaller retail components of the centre are starting to fill in.

Corbett Centre project manager Stewart Watson of Trinity Development Group told city officials, planning advisory committee members and city councillors recently that the centre is about one-third complete, but negotiations are ongoing to sign up new tenants. Read more...

Managers think Shops at Wiregrass can fill shopping void

Wesley Chapel, FL — Chad Doritan still had not declared a major when he took a public relations class. His project: Revive a campus restaurant suffering from lackluster sales. That's when he honed his philosophy of marketing.

"It was much more than putting an ad in the school newspaper," said the 35-year-old graduate of Denison University, a small liberal arts college just east of Columbus, Ohio. "Every point of contact is marketing."

Doritan tweaked the menu, improved customer service, brought in live entertainment and dreamed up some promotions. At the end of the semester, the restaurant, whose name Doritan can't recall, was still in business, and Doritan earned an A. A marketing director was born.

Today, after a career that has included working for a hospital, restaurants, hotels and shopping centers, Doritan is the marketing director for the Shops at Wiregrass, which is set to open Oct. 30. Read more...

Mall has new GM, marketing manager

Longmont, CO — No matter what happens with the proposed redevelopment of Twin Peaks Mall, Sandra O’Clock doesn’t have time to worry about it.

As the struggling mall’s new general manager, her hands are full gearing up for the mall’s Halloween parade and costume contest this Saturday night. Following that, her focus will turn quickly to the holiday shopping season.

“My objective coming in is twofold,” O’Clock said Monday. “First, we’ve to get it out there that, hey — we’re open. Read more...

Owner unveils $250M project at languishing Medley Centre mall

Irondequoit, New York — For the first time since buying Medley Centre 18 months ago, the new owner on Wednesday began to flesh out plans for redeveloping the mostly vacant Irondequoit shopping mall.

The $250 million mixed-use project would include space for hotels, a conference center, new retail, theaters, restaurants, offices and residences.

Macy's and Sears, the two department store anchors that remain at the mall, would stay. But many of the 30 to 40 mall shops would have to relocate because the interior of the two-story structure would be gutted and rebuilt, said Medley Centre spokesman Jim LeBeau.

He called the redevelopment a "one-of-a-kind, world-class, mixed-use project where you can work, live and play." Read more...

Changes also grand for one of county's other mega retail areas

Big plans are in store for this weathered box of a mall surrounded by parking lots, noisy highways and graying office buildings.

For starters, the phrase “make it more walkable” has been thrown around; so has “turn it into a urban community.” There is also talk of adding thousands of homes and millions of square feet of retail and office space.

Stop! Before you venture a guess, this is not Tysons Corner Center. But it is another of Fairfax County’s retail dinosaurs: Springfield Mall.

"I think Springfield is going to be the place where people will want to live,” said Springfield Civic Association President Tawny Hammond. “For those of us sticking it out, we will be sitting on a gold mine in 10 or 20 years." Read more...

I-69 (Exit 10): Mall entertains in prime location

When development at Exit 10 along Interstate 69 recently exploded, two companies joined to jump at the opportunity to make the area a destination for travelers and central and east central Indiana residents.

Developers Simon Property Group and Gershman Brown Crowley Inc. built Hamilton Town Center, an outdoor mall complete with large stores, specialty shops and restaurants. The companies also own property around the mall, outlots for more stores, restaurants, banks and other development flowing into the area.

The exit’s infrastructure, with an interchange off a major thoroughfare and recently rebuilt cross street of 146th Street, was important in bringing in Hamilton Town Center. Other considerations included the demographics of the mall’s target area, which extends through Madison County and into Delaware County, Simon public relations manager Les Morris said. Read more...

Developer unveils plan to remake mall in Billings, Mont.

Billings, MT — Washington state developer Bob McDonald said the West Park Plaza mall is broken and he's the man to fix it.

After unfurling bulky drawings illustrating the remake of Billings' first mall, McDonald pointed to a 150-foot-wide swath he's going to carve out of the middle of the mall, just west of the current Hastings Books Music & Videos.

The interior of the mall will be converted into an old-fashioned "Main Street" where cars can park and pedestrians can sit at tables or window shop. Read more...