Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Recession? What Recession? Malls Adding Space, Tenants

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 06 Jan 2003 12:31:05 -0500

Recession? What Recession? Malls Adding Space, Tenants
Source: Seattle Post - Intelligencer
Publication date: 2003-01-04
Arrival time: 2003-01-06

The malls will be crowded this year, though maybe not with shoppers.

Some local shopping centers likely will be full of construction workers
building movie theaters, department stores and restaurants and giving malls
much-needed facelifts.

By next holiday season, consumers will have a number of new retail and
entertainment options to choose from.

Here's a look at what's happening at some shopping centers in the Puget
Sound area in 2003:

Alderwood Mall - The first of several major mall developments - a larger,
144,000-square-foot Nordstrom store - is slated to open this fall, and
construction on at least one of its three new parking garages will begin early
this year.

Mall officials plan to announce new tenants in a few weeks. With the
addition of one indoor and one outdoor shopping area, there will be about 50
more stores and restaurants on the site.

Construction on the shopping areas, called The Terraces and The Village,
will begin later this year. Both are scheduled to open in 2004.

In the meantime, the mall is launching an ad campaign to highlight "our
upscale direction," said marking director Tamera Wachter.

Bellevue Square - Mall officials expect eight stores to open by summer and
several tenants to relocate or remodel their stores this year. Because
agreements have not been finalized, the mall won't disclose the names of
retailers who will be moving in, said spokeswoman Anne Marie Peacock.

Everett Mall - Workers have completed the bulk of the mall's internal
remodeling, replacing its teal interior with wood and rock- inspired tile,
fixtures and benches.

Next month, construction starts on a new information center, and in April,
work begins on the mall's new entrance. When it is finished - about two
months later - it will boast a patio area, outdoor fireplace and clock tower.

The mall plans to bring in 12 new tenants, who will be officially named later
this year, said general manger Linda Johannes.

Under the mall's development plans, retail space is expected to be added in
the next two or three years.

Northgate Mall - The mall's owner, Simon Property Group Inc., is looking
at possible redevelopment plans but does not have a timeline, said
spokeswoman Billie Scott.

Under a 1998 development proposal, a movie theater and office building
would have been demolished. Shops, offices and restaurants would have
been built in their place. The company also wanted to add a theater, a hotel
and office and residential units on its south parking lot.

The project was scrapped, however, following legal disputes related to water
running underneath a parking lot that some community groups consider part
of Thornton Creek.

Simon sold off part of the mall's property last year to be used as a park and
ride lot and has not yet determined what to do with the rest of the site.

The mall is 100 percent leased and has no plans for new tenants, said
marking director Angela Forest.

Pacific Place - The downtown shopping center expects to open two
restaurants during the first part of the year and is searching for tenants to fill
other spaces expected to open in a few months.

Johnny Rockets, a restaurant under construction, is slated to open in
March, and a pan-Asian restaurant may open in the former Stars Bar &
Dining space in the spring.

Pacific Place officials have already lined up a retail tenant to move into the
Cafe Starbucks unit, and they are also marketing the Cutter & Buck and
Tommy Hilfiger spaces, which are expected to empty around March.

Interest from retailers in the shopping center's spaces is up from last year,
said Lynn Beck, marking manager.

Redmond Town Center - The latest major addition to the site, a
110,000-square-foot Bon Marche, will open in August.

Center officials expect to formally announce another development on the
property: a 262-room Marriott hotel with a convention facility, said Kelley
Gast, the center's marketing manger.

This month, two eateries also will open: Matt's restaurant and Cold Stone
Creamery, an ice cream parlor.

Tacoma Mall - Two retail buildings will be under construction in the mall's
outer lot. One will likely house a big-box retailer, said Lynn Castle, regional
marketing director for Simon Properties Group Inc., the mall's owner. She
added that she couldn't officially announce the tenant's name yet.

Some merchants slated to move into the mall: Fuzziwig's Candy Factory,
Thai Go, Ezell's Famous Chicken and a Nextel phone store.

Following the mall's renovation in 2000, officials also are planning
improvements to its parking lot.

University Village - Construction on the shopping center's new retail building
and parking garage will be completed in the first half of the year, said
spokeswoman Sarah Canwell.

The building - which includes Crate and Barrel, The Land of Nod (a children's
clothing and toy store), Metropolitan Pilates, Fiorini Sports and Starbucks -
will open in May.

Westfield Shoppingtown Southcenter - The mall's owner - Westfield America
- agreed to acquire a leasehold interest in the adjacent Red Lion Hotel
property last year. At the time, the company said it would submit a
redevelopment application to the city of Tukwila in the first quarter of 2003.

City officials said this week that a formal redevelopment application had not
yet been filed. A Westfield spokeswoman did not return phone calls seeking
comment.

The mall is adding two retailers, said Southcenter spokeswoman Kristin
Flores. Bahama Breeze restaurant and Weisfield Jewelers will open in the
spring.

Furniture company to close stores

United Furniture Warehouse may close some of its Washington stores.

The Vancouver, B.C.-based company closed its Fife and Olympia stores in
November, and it may close several other underperforming stores in the
state this year, said Chief Executive Officer John Volken. He said specific
closure locations had not yet been determined.

The company operates 13 stores in Washington and more than 150 in the
United States and Canada.

Retail Notebook is a Saturday feature by P-I retail reporter Christine Frey.
She can be reached at 206-448-8142 or [email-masked]

Publication date: 2003-01-04

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