The Ground Floor

Compact Communities - Is Density Incompatible With Safety?

Reducing the carbon footprint of metropolitan areas will require making them more compact in order to reduce driving or vehicle miles traveled (VMTs). Forgive me for saying this (density being a four letter word) but this will require increasing the density of existing communities and building new ones with appropriate density. 

So what are the best ways to design compact, densely populated, walkable communities which are attractive, safe and lively? One thing clearly needed is enough housing so people live in the community; this is what creates the "24/7" communities which have been shown to be most successful over time. What are the best ways to do this while reducing crime and enhancing public safety?

Housing Over Retail: How to Make It Work

Is mixing housing and retail in the same building a high-risk investement? The answer according to the panel at this session is "Maybe yes, maybe no, and maybe." It all depends on the location, the investment structure and timing in the market (some would call that "luck") and if timing is off, then patience is required.

All agreed that retail is the driver, the glue that binds, since at the street level, you don't know whether you have three stories above you or 30 stories.

The role of the community and the city as partners was emphasized once again. As John Tschiderer of Federal Realty said: He use to go in thinking he needed to get 95% of what he wanted. Now he realizes that these other partners have sound ideas of their own and he is satisfied with ending up with 51% of his initial ideas. With input from the community/public sector, comes ownership. Again, there was unanimous agreement -- how you launch is how you land.

Details on construction challenges, parking as key and how it may vary by location, were also discussed.

Finally, words of wisdom based on housing over retail experience: Never stop thinking it through (Art Fuccillo of Lerner), go at it with great passion (John Tschiderer of Federal Realty), and housing over retail is where the world is heading -- either be a leader or a follower (Tom Cody of Gerding Edlen).

Michael S. Rubin on Retail Development

In this podcast, Michael S. Rubin, president, MRA International, in Philadelphia, Pa., talks about the need for retail development to evolve in a way that turns shopping trips into personalized pursuits, rather than periodic visits. In Rubin's view, transforming errands into experiences is the best way to keep onsite retail relevant in an environment of "multi-channeled" retailing opportunities, such as online shopping.

International Retail: A Different Ballgame

With retail development becoming increasingly globalized, the best way to keep it real is to keep it local, according to those with plenty of experience building retail projects overseas.

An engaging panel at ULI’s recent “Reinventing Retail” conference offered attendees tips on how to successfully enter emerging markets -- in particular those in India and China -- where explosive population growth, the rise of capitalism, rapid urbanization, and rising worker incomes are fueling consumer demand for all types of goods and services.

“When we evaluate whether to go in (to an overseas market), we look at whether the circumstances are right to deliver a project that meets the community’s expectations,” said Richard Poulos, executive vice president, The Jerde Partnership in Venice, Calif. “ We design for the local community. We don’t just transport (in terms of design and development) what’s going on in the West.” Poulos pointed out that in India and China, where city populations commonly exceed 10 million, issues related to density, sense of scale and sense of place have a “completely different” context. In these markets, he said it’s critical to get it right the first time, because “these projects become a symbol of their sense of progress.”

Conference Chairman Ian Watt, executive director, international, Old Mutual Properties Group in Cape Town, South Africa, noted the importance of balancing retail that tourists want with what locals want. Combining retailers that come from the East as well as the West is a challenge, but one that must be overcome to produce a sustainable project, he said. “Why would you go to India and shop in a Gap?” he asked.

Good point. However, for every tourist looking for authenticity in India, there may be several local residents looking for a new pair of Gap Slim Fits. Watt emphasized to the audience that the impact of India and China on retail development worldwide is “just beginning” and “cannot be underestimated.”

Stay tuned...there are sales to be made...for years to come.

What Sticks With Customers

Attendees at ULI's "Reinventing Retail" conference, being held this week in Beverly Hills, got an earful from the retail industry's elite about what is working and what's not in the quickly changing world of retail development. One message: obsolete anchors can be and are being retooled creatively to help draw consumers to retail centers of all sizes. Another: department stores -- if they have the right combination of quality, value and customer service -- are regaining some ground, while some of the smaller, highly specialized stores may be fading in popularity. ("Having Target and Nordstrom makes a great shopping center," noted one panelist.) Still another message: more and more longtime suburban big box stores (think Target) are going urban, adjusting to the denser environment by using multi-level designs and smaller building space, to cater to the growing number of downtown and center city residents.

Context is Everything

How a building relates to its surroundings and neighbors is crucial for the creation of an active streetscape and to foster a sense of community. West River Commons, a small (one-acre) mixed-use project in the Longfellow neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, is an excellent example of context-sensitive design.

Like many pre-WWII inner suburban neighborhoods, the Longfellow neighborhood comprises single-family homes sited on a dense and walkable street grid. Also like many neighborhoods from this time period, the scale and walkability of the area has been comprised by fast moving traffic on arterial streets lined with one-story commercial strip centers.

West River Commons fronts one of these arterials, Lake Street. Its 53 apartments, three townhouses, dry cleaning shop, two restaurants and one cafe are designed in such a way to provide a transition from the activity and traffic on Lake Street to the more quiet residential feel just a block away. The focal point of the project is a small park which provides outdoor setting for the restaurants and serves as an informal community gathering point.

A complete case study of this project can be found on ULI's Development Case Studies Web site. (If you are not already subscribed to the Development Case Studies, you can subscribe here.)

Hooray for Hollywood!

The January 26th New York Times had a front page article, "Hollywood, the Sequel: Less Shabby, More Chic." The story traces the efforts by various business groups and government agencies to bring back Hollywood from its "down" decades (lasting 40 years) to its former glory. Now, it seems, it has become something different altogether -- a place for entertainment and shopping again but also, unlike the entertaiment mecca of Times Square in NYC, a place to live. Condos and apartments are popping up all over in new buildings, rehabs, some over retail. All this is significantly helped by the rail system that serves Hollywood and a population segment that is excited by urban, mixed use, walkable living.  As David Malmuth says in the article: "Hollywood is a testament to people's desire to live in places with some sense of history and a sense of place."

Now you can see this article come to life. The "Hooray for Hollywood" tour (conceived months before the article), scheduled for the afternoon of February 23 as part of ULI's Reinventing Retail: Community, Lifestyle, and Entertainment conference, examines Hollywood's revitalization efforts. Representatives from the Community Redevelopment Agency (a major player and investor in Hollywood), the BID, and individual developers will tell their story, talk about the deals, and show off the results. It is a great opportunity to delve deeper into the interesting story that is today's Hollywood.

Big Boxes Grow UP

In the old days, shopping centers fell neatly into distinct categories that were characterized by formulaic anchors, tenants, price points, sizes, and configurations. Those days of course are long gone, and in their place we are seeing an explosion of innovative center types that don’t follow the old rules. One recent innovation involves changing the format of big boxes (check out what Stores online magazine said recently about big boxes growing 'up') and integrating big boxes and full-price specialty tenants into hybrid retail environments that provide both the value of off-price centers and the personalized and energized pedestrian environments associated with full-price centers.

Is this a marriage that works? Are these very different types of tenants and environments compatible, and do they create a synergy that enhances the performance of both? Is this an opportunity that can be widely exploited?

ULI has invited a panel of experts to its Reinventing Retail Conference: Community, Lifestyle, and Entertainment to talk about how it’s being done, and what their experience has been. Top representatives from Target Corporation, General Growth, Madison Marquette, and Westfield will be there to present and answer your questions.

Beyond Lifestyle

The most overused and misunderstood buzzword in the shopping center industry today is lifestyle. It seems that every new shopping center from neighborhood to regional invokes the term in one way or another to market itself, but they can’t all be lifestyle centers can they? What does lifestyle really mean in a development and marketing sense today? Has this term -- brilliantly created by one developer for their specific approach to shopping centers -- run its course for the general public? What does lifestyle mean to you? Do you know one when you see it? Are there other, more creative terms? What's next?