MALLIViEven a revamped food

court could not savethe Echelon Mall in

Voorhees, New Jersey,It's one of a number of

large shopping mailsacross the country

that are morphing into"town centers,"

VoorheebTown Center

A greatplace to

shop,live, and

work,

10 Planning July 2009

Conversions are moking big shopping centers into something else entirely.

ÄKEOVERSor decades, shoppers from Philadelphiaand its suburbs floeked to the EchelonMall in Voorhees, New Jersey, but thosedays are gone. This once popular mall,built in 1970, has been spiralingdownwardever since two of its anchor stores closed afew years ago. Vacancies dot the corridorsdespite a recent revamp that brightenedthe food CiJurt and brought the smallertenants together into clusters.

Posters papered over the empty store-fronts promise a "change." They tantalizepassersby with claims of a different kindof "gathering place," one that will "unitethe neighborhood." One litrge sign says,"The Offices arc designed for modern dayprofessionals"—presumably like the smil-ing young executive in the aceompiinj-ingphoto. ;\nother placard shows a lovey-dovey couple and tells the reader thatthe Abitare Residences "are designed forpeople who lead healthy, active, and suc-cessful lives."

Offices and residences? At the mall?The idea would be laughable, if it didn'tmake so much darned sense.

"Many years ago, I went on a trip toFlorida and saw a mall called Toun Center,and it struck me as funny," recalls AndrewPort, AICP, town planner for lianover, Mas-sachusetts (pop. 14,000), about a half hourSi)uth of Boston. "A town center is whereyou interact with otlier people, right? Youdon't do that at the mall," he saj's. "But now,I think malls actually have the fJotential toact as a catalyst for a return to a traditionalform of human settlement."

That's why the Hanover planning boardrecently submitted a proposal to lower park-ing requirements at the 100-acre HanoverMall, and why it's pushing for an amend-ment to the town's zoning law to allow anassisted living facility and perhaps even ahotel or conference center ttj be built on-

site. The moves, says Port, wuuld allow themall—which recently lost a KB Toys and a(Circuit Cit}' after both chains went out ofbusiness—to be more flexible and reboundmore easily after diffiaiit economic times.

Even more telling: Cities nil over theU.S. are using eminent domain to a.ssumeownership of so-called dead malls andlooking at imaginative funding strategies tohelp get these big taxpayers back into op-eration while changing the role they servein their communities.

Mount Prospect, Illinois (pop 56,000),northwest of Chicago, has promised tocontribute $25 million to a $150 miliionredevelopment project tbat will gut tbe47-year-old, Victor Gruen-designed Rand-hurst Mali. The money will come fromprojected excess revenue generated bj' newsales, business, hotel, and entertainmenttaxes raised over the next 20 years.

According to William Cooney, .MCP, di-rector ot community development for thesuburb, the lOO-acre mixed use site willoffer roughly the same amount of retailas the old mall {250,000 square feet), butit will add a new main street with a ho-tel, movie theater, restaurants, offices, ¡md,eventually, some 200 apartments, situatedalong and around it. "Tbis is somethingtbat the entire town is ver\' excited about,".says Cooney. "Its taking an undeqierfonn-ing asset and tuming it into what we hopewill be a new public transportation buband a place where people can be in closeproximity to a mix of uses."

Bottom line: The mall is changing, withtbe move to mixed use the latest in a seriesof refinements meant to revitalize a rapid-ly dying retail staple. According to tbe In-ternational Council of Sbopping Centers,tbe industry trade group, of the nation'sestimated 45,000 shopping centei-s. onlyabout 1,200 now fit the description of what

By JoAnn Greco

we think of as a mall—a large, enclosedsuburban destination outfitted witb two orthree or (why not?) 10 anchors, dozens ofsmaller, mostly chain stores, no windows,and vast expanses of surface parking. Justone of these has opened since 2006, whilehundreds have cto.sed and about 300 or sohave been converted into lifest\'le centers,malls that include open-air componentslike plazas and upscale restaurants locatedin exterior buildings.

The vast majority of the remainingshopping centers are traditional strip mallsand tbeir newer incarnations, such as pow-er centers (assemblages of category killerslike Pottery B;ini, Barnes and Noble, amiHome Depot); neighborhood centers (an-chored by a grocery store such as WholePoods); and outlet centers.

With 3 still reeling economy obligingreliable mall fixtures like Ann Taylor andStarbucks to retrench, others like Steve &Barry's and Linens 'n Things to fail com-pletely, and still others to move in and outof bankruptcy, the picture looks bleak forall but outlet centers. AccortÜng to real es-tate research finn Reis, Inc., vacancy ratesat U.S. malls climbed above seven percentin tbe fourtb quaiter of 2008, the highestsince tbe organization began tracking thefigures in 2000.

Location and land advantages

Whether its by adding ¡lopular discount-ers like Target and Wal-Mart (a move pre-viously unheard of for an enclosed mall),cutting tbe amount of retail, tearing offrools and adding outdoor plazas, or sim-ply dropping rental rates (for an averageof a combined 10 percent decrease overthe last two years, according to PropertyPortfolio & Research), mall owners andtheir communities are desperately review-ing diese aging assets.

American Planning Association

Anà they're finding two things in theirfavor: location and land. Covering dozensof acres of prime real estate near arterialhighways and transit centers, older mallsare perfectly situated for new uses, ac-cording to Ellen Dunham-Jones, associateprofessor and director of the architectureprogram at the Georgia Institute of Tech-nology, and coauthor {widi June William-son ) oi Retivfitting Suburbia: Urban DesignSolutions for Redesigning Sulmrbs.

"They're in tirst-ring suburbs, so theycan be better integrated into surroundingneighborhoods," she says. "It's an ironicfact of sprawl that even though they oncewere on the edge, they now occupy a cen-tral position because development has sooutreached them." Further, the vast acre-age devoted to parking can be viewed assmart land hanking. The sites, with accessto roads and utilities, can now be put tohigher use.

The timing couldn't be better for aserious rethinking of malls. Even withoutthe added impetus of a sagging economy—the Hanover Mall, for example, was thriv-ing at 92 percent occupancy at the end ofMarch—a general sense of mall malaise, avigorous call for sustainable land use, andshitting demographics make the time seemright for a change, say the experts.

"Many would argue that we've beenoverly retailed for some time now," saysDunham-Jones. "The very process thatkills a lot of old malls—the constant leap-frogging that leaves hehind ghost boxes asnewer centers with better amenities openfarther out—is evidence ofthat."

Dunham-Jones points to the changingface of the suburbs as another contributorto the mall's downfall. "Suburbs do a greatjob of maximizing private space for youngfamilies," she says. "They've never donea good job of providing public space fordiverse audiences. The traditional shop-ping mall has little appeal for people likeyoung professionals who may work in thesuburbs or for aging empty nesters whochoose to live there."

New wave of shoppers"We've realized for a while now thatthere's a breed of affluent shopper in thiscommunity that hasn't been served," saysJoseph Coradino, president ot the Phila-delphia-based Pennsylvania Real EstateInvestment Trust, which in 2003 added theailing Echelon Mall to its nationwide port-

folio of 38 enclosed malls. But the changedidn't happen overnight. "It wasn't like alight bulb went off. We knew we wantedto right-size the mall, but we took a seriesof steps to get to the mixed use idea," saysCoradino.

First, the trust added treestanding re-tail, dien an ofïice building, then somemedical uses around the perimeter of themall property. When it started talkingwith Wal-Mart, though, "people rose upin arms," Coradino says.

At the request of community activists,local architect Jim Baumann drew up apedestrian-triendly village as an alterna-tive and presented it to the trust and thetownship board. "When we really startedthinking about a residential component,we got more and more excited about it,"says Coradino of the planned 425 luxuryapartments and condos now being devel-oped by partner Dewey Companies ofWayne, Pennsj'lvania.

Ground was broken in January 2007,followed soon att:er by the demolition ofthe Sears and J.C. Penney buildings (twoanchors, Macy's and Boscov's, remain).The mall was renamed the Voorhees TownCenter, and a new outdoor plaza was built.New tenants (a Krazy City indoor themepark and The Spot, a community resourcefor teens) opened in the indoor mall.

This spring, the first occupants movedinto the residences, and a beauty schooland salon became the first tenant of the"boulevard," a landscaped street that con-nects the residences with the mall and isslated to host 130,000 square feet of inde-pendent retail.

"The residences will draw young pro-fessionals and empty nesters, yes, but theywill also bring a real synergy to the retail,"says Coradino. "If you can walk trom yourapartment to the mall, where else are yougoing to do your Christinas shopping?The same goes for the office component.We've seen a significant increase in foodcourt business since a 175-eniployee adagency moved in last September."

The township shares his optimism.Mayor Michael Mignogna has predictedthe project will be the "heartbeat of thecommunity" and estimates the 80-acreproperty will generate $2.9 million annu-ally in tax revenues.

To Tim Evans, a researcher at NewJersey Future, a smart-growth advocacygroup, the move makes good planning

Market conditions—and the ovifner's troubles—havestalled redevelopment of Cottonwood Mall just southof Salt Lake City. The renderings above illustrate DuanyPlater-Zyberk's design plans for mixed use develop-ment on the 57-acre site.

sense, too. "Even though planners havedecried enclosed malls for 20 years, com-pared to more recent developments in theretail world, they have some good points,"Evans says. Unlike the traditional malls,power centers, he points out, are builtfrom scratch—often in the middle of no-where. They require shoppers to get backinto their cars and drive from big box tobig box.

"Enclosed malls are already here," con-tinues Evans, "and they share the park-once capability' with downtown urbanshopping. So redeveloping something likethe Echelon Mall in this way offers a varia-tion on the idea of'tlowntown.' It's a verycreative attempt to retrotit something thathad previously offered a single use."

Coradino says conversions can bepopular with local people, but he cautionsagainst viewing them as a cookie-cuttersolution. "First of all," he points out, "notall enclosed malls are troubled. Second,the competitive environment, the demo-graphics, and the retail makeup need to beconsidered."

What the retailers say

Other large mall operators agree."We thinkall of these platfonns have their place," saysLes Morris, a spokesperson for the SimonProperty Group in Indianapolis, whoseportfolio includes 164 enclosed regional

13 Planning July 2009

malls and 40 premium outlet centers, aswell as tbe Mills (midrange discount cen-ters) and a bandfiil of lifestyle centers. Thegroup is, however, "increasingly buildingapartments and condos over retail, as wellas adding office space and hotels," Mor-ris adds. "There's an ongoing element ofreconfiguration with all of our malls. Noteverything gets done at one time."

The same outlook prevails at Chica-go-based General Growth Properties,which runs 200 malls of all stripes. A fewyears ago, tbe corporation announcedthat it would begin pursuing mixed useconversions for several of its propertiesacross the countr)'. One such project, theCottonwood Mall in Holladay, just southof Salt Lake City, has been stalled "untilmarket conditions improve," accordingto Jim Graham, senior director of publicaffairs.

Thus far, everything on the 57-acresite has been bulldozed except a stilloperating Macy's, and grading and utili-ties work bas been completed. The newCottonwood will include condominiums,town bouses, cottages, and single-familybouses, as well as shops, cafes, and res-taurants. Also planned are a specialtygrocery, cinema, and office space. Park-ing will be structured, resulting in a muebsmaller footprint.

"I don't know if I'd say that we'reover-reta i led," says Graham, "but tbegeneral feeling is that we're in a period oftransition and that retail will be a smallerpercentage of the overall development infuture projects."

Transition of a different sort was muchin evidence in mid-April, when GeneralGrowtb Properties filed for bankruptcyprotection. Despite this tum of events,the company—one of the nation's larg-est mall operators—says additional mallclosures are not expected. "GGP's Chap-ter 11 filing will have no impact on tbeday-to-day operations of our shoppingcenters, master planned communities,and other properties," noted Graham ina follow-up e-mail. "It will be business asusual and our restmcturing efforts shouldbe invisible to visitors." He added thatcertain projects, both planned and underway, have been delayed or stopped, as isthe case everywhere.

Next generation mailsLonnie Peterson, chairman of Orlando's

Hispanic Malls Are ThrivingInside Plaza Fiesta Carolinas, it's easy to forget that you're only five miles southof Charlotte, North Carolina, in what was once a doomed Eort Mill, SouthCarolina, outlet mall. Modeled after a traditional Latin American marketplace,the center is filled with "alleys" lined by 10-by-lO-foot stalls with vendors hawk-ing everything from tacos to leatber boots and insurance. There's a central pla7,a,fountains, and lots of kid-friendly areas, including an intloor playground that'sbilled as the largest in tbe Southeast.

The Latino-tbenied center opened last year with little fanfare. But traffic inthe mall has grown from about 3,000 customers a week before its conversion tomore than 30,000 now, says Arturo Adonay, a partner in the development. Aiid it'sstill signing new tenants, despite the slumping economy.

"It's been a shot in the arm for us," says David Pettine, a planner with tbe YorkCounty Planning Commission in Rock Hill, South Carolina. "The Charlotteregion has a very strong Latino community; and we've become a destination forthem. That's certainly better than an oudet mall <m its way to going donnant."

Plaza Fiesta Carolinas is among a growing number of Hispanic [nails openingacross the country as developers recognize tbe buying power of the immigrantmarket—and communities embrace a new way to revitalize failing or vacant retailspaces. Atlanta-based Capital City Development, which built tbe C l̂barlotte cen-ter, opened the original Plaza Fiesta in Atlanta about 10 years ago in a decliningstrip mall. Since then, it has developed into a xHtal shopping and social hub for tbearea's immigrant community; And in Phoenix, Arizona, converting to a I Iispanicfocus saved the flagging Desert Sky Mall, which couldn't compete witb a newermall 12 minutes away.

While businesses to serve tbe Hispanic consumer have been around for years,wbat's new is tbat developers are recruiting tbose vendors to larger marketplaces.Bec-ause the Latino population is often concentrated in established urban areas,the best location for such centers is often an existing building or a strugglingmainstream mall. "Part of our strategy is to target vacant or failing retail spaces,"Adonay says. "We can take an empty store or mail and create a center that willhelp entrepreneurs, generate taxes for the city, and revitalize abandoned areas andbuildings."

About 47 million Latinos live in the U.S., Census data show, and the popula-tion is growing six times taster than the non-Latino population. 1 Iispanic buyingpower is also growing faster tban that of otber etbnic groups, according to astudy from the L^niversity of Georgia's Selig Center for Economic Cîrowth. Erom1990 to 2008, Hispanics' disposable income jumped by ,H9 percent, to $951 bil-lion, compared to a 141 percent increase for non-Hispanics.

Hispanic spending tends to be recession-proof, experts say. because Hispan-ics have few investments, rarely use credit, anil tend to share housing costs withextended families. "W-lien Latinos want to buy something, they buy it, and theyusually pay with cash," Adonay says. "Very few of our customers have money intbe stock market or mortgages to worrj' about."

Jose de Jesus Legaspi, a California developer who has made a career outof repositioning retail centers to target Latinos, says he IiKiks for sites witb apopulation of about 150,000 I lispanics within a 60-nule radius. "Unlike mostmainstream malls, which draw from only a few miles," he says, "we can bring inHispanics from farther out because they're willing to travel to be somewhere theyfeel at home."

To make the numbers work, Legaspi says, his projects are often public-privatepartnerships tbat involve tax increment fmancing or other incentives. In FortWorth, his firm spent about $42 million converting a struggling mall into LaGran Plaza, a 1.1 niillion-square-foot center with a Latino theme. Tbe citykicked in another $22 million in incentives. Tbe mall was 30 percent occupiedbefore tbe renovation; it's now 95 percent leased and thriving.

"By the time be took it over, we were trying to decide whether to scrap it as

Planning Assoristion 1Í

a retail site and turn it into anotheruse, or try to salvage it," says RobertStunis, the city's business developmentcoordinator at the time. "It was a riskfor us to go with an out-of-state de-veloper. But I was just there two weeksago. It was a Sunday afternoon and theplace was packed.''

Most of tbe malls have a mix ofLatino-themed shijps and mainstreamretailers, as well as services such asbanks, beaut)' salons, and supermar-kets. Many also have an area withbooths for small, locally owned busi-nesses. Because Latinos tend to shopwith several generations of familymembers, having kid-friendly areasand lots of bencbes is key, expertssay. "Many Latinos live in mucbsmaller living quarters, so they wanta place where they can go and spendtime," says .\rturo Sneider, a partnerwith Los Angeles-based PrimestorProperties, wbicb bas been developingHispanic retail sites for 20 years.

On a recent day at Plaza EiestaCarolinas, women sbopped for sandalsat a Bass store that remained from themall's days as an outlet center, whileacross the way, a candy store soldcoffee-fîavored lollipops from Mexicofor 20 cents each. In tbe tnall's centercourt, kids i)f different ethnicitiesclambered through tunnels and swungfrom ropes at the indoor playground.

"Even though our theme is Latino,we're not just for Latinos," Adonaysays. "You'll see all types of familieshere."

Michelle Crouch

Crouch ¡5 a freelance journalist based in Char-lotte, North Carolina,

Cuhaci & Peterson Architects, has beende-malling shopping centers for 10 yearsnow\ Three years ago, he moved his 90-person office into the Village Center, anewly built mixed use mall that's part of a1,000-acre, transit-oriented developmentcalled Baldwin Park, built on a decom-missioned military base. Now, he says,be's ready to complete his own transitionby downsizing from a traditional subur-ban rancb house to a town house near tbemall.

Peterson, who recently exhorted a re-gional group of ICSC members in WestFlorida to "develop new concepts, be-cause that's what America is looking for,"adds that sooner or later underperfortn-ing malls will have to step up to their po-tential to turn into something else.

Often that something else includesmore than a token patch of green. WienBonestroo, an engineering and planningfirm in St. Paul, Minnesota, was hired toconvert Apache Plaza, an ailing shoppingcenter in St. Anthony Village (pop. 8,000).just north of Minneapolis, the firm wasintent on taking advantage of its setting.

"The mall was right next to SilverLake, the best amenity in town," saysBonestroo principal jobn Sbardlow, AICP."But the lake was eutrophic and bligbted.The entire site was just about 100 per-cent impervious surface, with not a bladeof grass to be found." Now, he adds, anew lakeside park has become a com-munity gathering place, playing host toeverything from summertime concerts toweddings.

On a bigger scale, planners in Co-lumbus, Ohio, are looking at the sizablecbunk of prime real estate now occupiedby a failing mall as a juniping-off pointfor regreening downtown. According toVmce Papsidero, AICP, the city's planning

LEARN MORE

ONFiLM

'Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Desigr) So/ut/onsfiw Heöeilgning Suburës^Ellen Dunham-Jones and June Williamson, John Wiley g- Sons, 2008,Greyñelds intoGoldñelds, by Lee Sobel, published in 2002 by theCongress for the New Urbanism, See www,cnu,org,

IntemaTional Council of Shopping Centers; www.icsc,org. PropertyPortfolio Research; www.ppr,infD-

Icafus films has just reieased Mallî R Lis, a 28-rniriijte documentaryabout the nation's enclosed malls. Learn more at www,icarusfilms.com/new2009/mall ,htm I,

administrator, Columbus needs parkland.Tbe plan calls for demolishing Colum-bus City Center—an enclosed million-square-foot niall that's been dated sinceit opened in the early 1990s and thathas suffered from suburban competitionin recent years—and replacing it witb anine-acre commons.

"Right now, our downtown just can'tsupport a huge retail destination," Papsi-dero says. "Our goal is to use tbis greenspace as an impetus for residential andoffice developments that will in turn re-invigorate tbe street life, and eventuallybring in smaller scale retail."

Tbat's exactly what happened inLakewood, Colorado (pop. 140,000), justwest of Denver, where Belmar, one oftheearliest transformations of a regional mallinto mixed uses, has created a leafy andquite urban center for a suburb that hadno traditional downtown.Tbc project basbeen up and running since 2003, but bythe time it's completely built out in 2012,the site will boast nearly three times asmuch development as it once held, withalmost half of tbe new building area re-served for 1,300 housing units.

Office uses and stores are scatteredover the remainder of a tight grid oftwo dozen blocks. "We've got the larg-est Wiiole Foods Market in Colorado, aswell as a theater and a g)nn," says Stepha-nie Jackson, a spokesperson for Belmar."There's a sense of experience, of authen-ticit)' that I think people are looking for.We host festivals throughout the year,there's ice skating in the winter, winetastings, you name it. In Colorado, peoplelove to spend times outdoors and this justreally w(îrks for us."

,4nd so tnaybe the malls of America—where so many kids first sat on Santa'slap, whiled away their teenage years,shopped for their bridal finery, and, final-ly, returned in an unending lifecycle withtheir own children—will once again findthemselves at the center of our lives.

"People say, 'Oh, my God! CircuitCity is going out of business—what's tobecome of tbe mall?"' says Orlando ar-chitect Lonnie Peterson. "But I see tbisas a continuing evolution. It doesn't meritpanic, but it does merit some imaginationand thought."

• JoArn Greco is a writer based in Philadelphia,

14 Planning July 2009