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Originally Posted by bobcat
Did a little more digging and found this Metropolis promo video on Youtube posted back in Dec. Can't believe nobody caught it.
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That presentation suggests the metropolis proj is pretty far along or rather committed. The lack of much advance publicity on it til now has made me treat it as an iffy thing & not to be taken seriously. iow, I'm in a "show me the money" frame of mind, or what was mentioned in the article posted at retailtrafficmag.com......
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Show-me mentality
Still, retailers do have nagging questions about downtown. “It’s intriguing now, but you’ve got a stigma that needs to be overcome,” Rosenberg says.
Patrick Spillane, senior vice president of IDS Real Estate Group, adds, “There is still a ‘show me’ mentality from national retailers. They need to be convinced downtown offers a real opportunity.”
IDS is confronting skeptical retailers daily. The local firm, working with Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Collarmele Partners, is planning a six-acre, mixed-use project near Staples Center and is actively talking to national retail chains, Spillane says.
Dubbed Metropolis, the multi-phase project is tentatively designed to consist of up to 300,000 square feet of retail, 836 residential units and 480 hotel rooms.
IDS has received approvals for the project and is targeting 2012 for ground breaking and an opening in 2014. “The hotel has become critical because of AEG’s plan for the convention center, which would have a huge impact on tourism and hospitality demand,” Spillane says. In particular, IDS is looking to integrate larger box formats into its project, adding that Metropolis could accommodate six to eight big boxes ranging from 15,000 square feet to 50,000 square feet.
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with target already underway just a block away, that eliminates from the list one of the biggies of big box stores. not sure if metropolis can find many more.
DT still needs alot more serious minded shoppers to support that type of big time retailing, & generally those are women. You guys may be ideal for best buy or sports chalet, but most of the balance of big box stores depend on lots of foot traffic from dedicated female shoppers.
But what if the devlpr somehow convinces enough stores to sign on?
the more I think about metropolis being a REAL deal, & not just a repeat of projs like parkfifth or la central, or the glass tower proj across from eleven (anyone remember that?), the more exciting it becomes to me.
Ppl like milquetoast or illithid say the proj looks bad or too burban---& they're not totally without cause----but I admit to being far more bothered by this devlpt going nowhere & ending up as pie in the sky.
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