Cambridge Properties is primarily a retail developer. But its proposed University City entertainment district in Charlotte, N.C., is unlikely to include soft-goods retailers as tenants.
“We’re looking to ‘Amazon proof’ the district,” explains Jay Priester, Jr., Cambridge’s Vice President of Leasing and Development. In other words, Cambridge is looking for tenants that don’t compete with the online monolith.
Good luck with that. Online shopping captured nearly 12% of total U.S. retail sales last year, according to Commerce Department estimates. It is expected to grow at an 8–12% clip annually through 2020, according to National Retail Federation projections.
Consequently, some entertainment districts are going light on retail, partly because “the bulk of the leasing demand is for dining and entertainment,” say Barry Hand, a Principal with design mega-firm Gensler in Dallas.
But not every developer or AEC firm believes that retailing is anathema to an entertainment district. The Gila River Indian Community in Arizona intends to develop a 68,000-sf entertainment district in Phoenix that would bridge its Wild Horse Pass Hotel & Casino and Phoenix Premium Outlets.
Quite a bit of the new development around the L.A. Live entertainment district in downtown Los Angeles is mixed-use with a strong retail component. “When you’re adding residential to an entertainment district, retail becomes an ‘I need’ space,” says Daun St. Amand, a Senior Vice President for CallisonRTKL.
Callison designed Oceanwide Plaza, a three-tower, 1.5-million-sf residential and hotel building that is scheduled to open across the street from L.A. Live in early 2019. Oceanwide will include roughly 153,000 sf of specialty retail shops. St. Amand says that AEG, L.A. Live’s developer, has been keen on new construction around the district that offers retail options, which downtown Los Angeles lacks.
Five hundred thousand people work in downtown L.A.; 50,000-60,000 live there. Another 10,000 housing units in downtown’s South Park neighborhood will be delivered within the next two years. “Entertainment districts are becoming more like community centers, where people can come and hang out,” says Ed Sachse, Executive Managing Director–Investments and Leasing Brokerage for Kennedy Wilson Properties, Oceanwide's leasing broker. “People are looking for experiential environments, and retail is becoming more like that.”
He points to sports apparel and high-end boutiques as examples of retailers that continue to lure shoppers. Oceanwide, he says, will have around 25 shops ranging from 1,500 to 10,000 sf, all selling “affordable luxury” products.
Related Stories
3D Printing | Oct 9, 2024
3D-printed construction milestones take shape in Tennessee and Texas
Two notable 3D-printed projects mark milestones in the new construction technique of “printing” structures with specialized concrete. In Athens, Tennessee, Walmart hired Alquist 3D to build a 20-foot-high store expansion, one of the largest freestanding 3D-printed commercial concrete structures in the U.S. In Marfa, Texas, the world’s first 3D-printed hotel is under construction at an existing hotel and campground site.
Mixed-Use | Oct 7, 2024
New mixed-use tower by Studio Gang completes first phase of San Francisco waterfront redevelopment
Construction was recently completed on Verde, a new mixed-use tower along the San Francisco waterfront, marking the end of the first phase of the Mission Rock development. Verde is the fourth and final building of phase one of the 28-acre project that will be constructed in several phases guided by design principles developed by a design cohort led by Studio Gang.
The Changing Built Environment | Sep 23, 2024
Half-century real estate data shows top cities for multifamily housing, self-storage, and more
Research platform StorageCafe has conducted an analysis of U.S. real estate activity from 1980 to 2023, focusing on six major sectors: single-family, multifamily, industrial, office, retail, and self-storage.
Mixed-Use | Sep 19, 2024
A Toronto development will transform a 32-acre shopping center site into a mixed-use urban neighborhood
Toronto developers Mattamy Homes and QuadReal Property Group have launched The Clove, the first phase in the Cloverdale, a $6 billion multi-tower development. The project will transform Cloverdale Mall, a 32-acre shopping center in Toronto, into a mixed-use urban neighborhood.
3D Printing | Sep 17, 2024
Alquist 3D and Walmart complete one of the nation’s largest free-standing, 3D-printed commercial structures
Walmart has completed one of the largest free-standing, 3D-printed commercial structures in the US. Alquist 3D printed the almost 8,000-sf, 20-foot-high addition to a Walmart store in Athens, Tenn. The expansion, which will be used for online pickup and delivery, is the first time Walmart has applied 3D printing technology at this scale.
Retail Centers | Sep 17, 2024
Thinking outside the big box (store)
For over a decade now, the talk of the mall industry has been largely focused on what developers can do to fill the voids left by a steady number of big box store closures. But what do you do when big box tenants stay put?
Mass Timber | Sep 17, 2024
Marina del Rey mixed-use development is L.A.’s largest mass timber project
An office-retail project in Marina del Rey is Los Angeles’ largest mass timber project to date. Encompassing about 3 acres, the 42XX campus consists of three low-rise buildings that seamlessly connect with exterior walkways and stairways. The development provides 151,000 sf of office space and 1,500 sf of retail space.
Mixed-Use | Aug 21, 2024
Adaptive reuse of a Sears store becomes luxury mixed-use housing
6 Corners Lofts at 4714 W Irving Park Road, Chicago, Ill., opened in March of 2024 as a 394,000-sf adaptive reuse project born out of a former Sears store.
Adaptive Reuse | Jul 30, 2024
Empty mall to be converted to UCLA Research Park
UCLA recently acquired a former mall that it will convert into the UCLA Research Park that will house the California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy at UCLA and the UCLA Center for Quantum Science and Engineering, as well as programs across other disciplines. The 700,000-sf property, formerly the Westside Pavilion shopping mall, is two miles from the university’s main Westwood campus. Google, which previously leased part of the property, helped enable and support UCLA’s acquisition.
Smart Buildings | Jul 25, 2024
A Swiss startup devises an intelligent photovoltaic façade that tracks and moves with the sun
Zurich Soft Robotics says Solskin can reduce building energy consumption by up to 80% while producing up to 40% more electricity than comparable façade systems.
