Bayshore's $130M facelift
By Peter Kovessy, Ottawa Business Journal Staff
Mon, Mar 16, 2009 12:00 AM EST
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Bayshore Shopping Centre. (Photo supplied)
Mall owners fighting city at OMB to permit increased size
Ottawa's fourth-largest shopping centre is planning a 250,000-square-foot expansion, according to documents filed with the city, which will give Bayshore a larger leasable area than either the Rideau Centre or Place D'Orleans.
The mall itself would gain between 140,000 and 150,000 square feet of shopping and concourse space to the east and allow Zellers to consolidate its retail operations on a single floor at ground level, says Jacqueline Saucier, development manager for Montreal-based property management firm Ivanhoe Cambridge, which owns the Bayshore Shopping Centre.
"We calculated with all the tenants that want to come, that we have to (build) an expansion of that size," she says.
"The Bayshore Shopping Centre is a very strong property. Despite the fluctuations in the economy right now, it is atop the market."
Retail analyst Barry Nabatian, general manager of Market Research Corp., says the expansion is likely being driven in part by Bayshore's need to jump out ahead of area competitors holding undeveloped sites designated for retail use that would serve the west end's relatively wealthy – and growing – population.
But there is a municipal roadblock to the mall expansion. The city's new zoning bylaw – adopted by council last June – retains the existing site-specific gross leasable floor area (GLFA) cap of 753,500 square feet. Bayshore currently has a GLFA of approximately 728,000 square feet of retail space and is appealing the zoning provision to the Ontario Municipal Board.
Documents filed with the city peg the cost of the expansion in excess of $130 million. The plans also include the creation of 421 net new parking spots. The east parking structure would be demolished and a new four-storey parkade built on the west side. The existing three-storey north parkade will be rehabilitated, with the northeast section receiving a new level on the top and the integration of another level between current floors, says Ms. Saucier.
She says no general contractor has been selected for the project and that proponents will be asked to bid on an invitational basis, but PCL Constructors is listed as the contractor on site diagrams filed with the city.
Ivanhoe Cambridge is still in the predevelopment stage and preparing more detailed plans, and would not begin construction before early next year at the earliest, says Ms. Saucier, adding the work, conducted in phases, is expected to take three years.
Ms. Saucier says the expansion will allow Bayshore to continue becoming more upscale, with an emphasis on specialty and high-end retailers. The interior common areas will also be renovated to include better lighting, wood tones and soft seating.
Paying attention to improving customer service is a way for malls such as Bayshore to further contrast themselves against retail power centres such as the Kanata Centrum, says Michael Mulvey, who specializes in marketing and consumer behaviour at the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa.
He says the indoor controlled climate already gives malls an advantage over clustered stand-alone stores, especially when consumers are making a shopping trip, rather than running in for a quick purchase.
"A lot of people shop for leisure purposes, so there is a hedonic recreational aspect to shopping. If (Bayshore) can leverage that and put some of the fun back into shopping, it is going to attract a very loyal customer base," says Mr. Mulvey.
Market Research Corp.'s Mr. Nabatian agrees and notes Bayshore is expanding from a position of strength, both as one of Ottawa's most successful shopping centres and at a time when consumers are returning to malls.
"We're finding indoor shopping malls are generally picking up some of the market share that they lost to these so-called power centres."
The Ontario Municipal Board is scheduled to hear Bayshore's appeals of Ottawa's zoning bylaw in two hearings this fall. Ms. Saucier declined to comment on the appeals or what a loss would mean for the expansion plans.
Other Ottawa malls, including St. Laurent and Carlingwood, also have site-specific size restrictions, according to a city spokesperson.
In addition to fighting the cap on the size of the mall, Bayshore is appealing separate parking provisions in a hearing involving other parties, including College Square Properties Inc.
In appeal documents, Ogilvy Renault partner and lawyer Julie Paquette argues "the city has provided no land use planning rationale" for decreasing the maximum parking rate from five spaces per approximately 1,076 square feet of GLFA to four spaces on the main shopping centre property.
The hearings are scheduled to begin on Oct. 5 and Oct. 20.
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BAYSHORE BASICS
Built: 1973
Expansions: 1987 (third floor addition), 2001 and 2004.
Gross leasable floor area: 728,000 square feet of retail space
Owner: Ivanhoe Cambridge
Number of stores: 155
Percentage of mall vacant: 0
Parking spaces: 4,000
Annual number of visitors: 7.1 million
Companies involved in expansion preparations so far:
* Delcan Corp. (planning rationale, traffic impact study)
* Dessau Inc. (storm-water management plan, servicing brief)
* Douglas Associates Landscape Architects Ltd.(consultant)
* Genivar (consultant)
* LaLande + Doyle Architects Inc. (consultant, image analysis)
* Ogilvy Renault (Ontario Municipal Board appeal)
* PCL Constructors (listed as contractor on site diagrams; Ivanhoe Cambridge says no general contractor has been selected for project)
* Trow Associates Ïnc.(Phase 1 environmental assessment)
Sources: Ivanhoe Cambridge, documents filed with city of Ottawa, OBJ files