Posted Feb 10, 2014, 12:10 PM
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Join Date: Sep 2013
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More Gallery stuff....
Another story about the pending remodel, I boldfaced stuff in interest....
Quote:
One thing that has been much discussed is opening the mall more to the streets surrounding it.
"They have had plans for almost four years to basically create an active street front on Market Street," said Paul Levy, executive director of the Center City District, "to break down the solid walls and have lots of doors and windows and restaurants and cafés opening to the street."
Such a reimagining would dramatically enliven what is now a rather prosaic stretch of Market Street.
It also would require a lease change, since at the moment PREIT does not control the exterior walls of the Gallery, which originally was a $101 million publicly financed project and is still in the public domain. Greenberger said a new lease has been prepared to give PREIT that control once the company is ready to move ahead on renovations.
Those renovations will be costly, putting more pressure on tenant rents. Which argues for more successful tenants.
For some time, PREIT has made it clear that it is seeking upscale retailers to anchor its reenvisioned mall - or certainly retailers that could do more to exploit the strengths of the location, now numerous thanks to the expanded Convention Center, the Market East transit station, and the growing downtown residential population.
At the moment, there is little about the Gallery to appeal to any of the above.
"It is not oriented to the current visitors, let alone the dramatic growth in residential downtown," Levy said. "No one thinks to go to Market East to shop."
PREIT has signaled two possible directions. One would be to find a high-end anchor or two, such as Bloomingdales, to provide a draw for more moneyed consumers.
In June, Coradino told an audience of retailers that "another possible alternative is what we call 'Fast Fashion and Food,' if you will, and that is to redevelop it more consistent with some of the more trendy suburban mall tenants - like the Forever 21, the H&M, the Uniqlo, as well as restaurants and other food choices."
Robert F. McCadden, PREIT's chief financial officer, told analysts in April that the direction ultimately would be decided by the retailers.
"For instance, if we were to secure a high-fashion luxury department store as an anchor, that would end up having it be one kind of a project," McCadden said. "Conversely, if we were to secure more of a discount or popular-price department store, or some kind of a nontraditional retail anchor, large food market, etc., they would really define the project differently."
How it plays out is dependent on the complicated dance that mall owners perform with potential tenants, who typically want to know who their neighbors will be before committing.
"There are no pioneers in retail," is how Levy described it. "No retailer will go into a new location in hopes a market follows."
Rather, national brands need to be convinced they will have the company of other market-creating sellers. All of which means PREIT must sell itself to multiple retailers simultaneously, with the promise to each that the others will come along if it does.
It is that process that has seemed to be the biggest drag on the project.
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Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20...ipe_for_rebirth.html#4KRllxCDtLqFUdEt.99
....and Kmart is winding down....
Quote:
Seventeen years ago, when Kmart moved into the Center City shopping complex, Claudette was one of the first employees, she said.
"I helped open the store. I made sure everything was stocked on the shelves. It was always busy."
Now 49 and a catering cook, she was there to score the best and most discounted stuff from aisles that have become almost as familiar as her bookshelves at home.
"I can't believe they're taking it away," Boyd said. "I'm shocked. Really shocked. When you're so used to going to one store. Men's over there. Women's over here. Appliances upstairs."
This beginning-of-the-end event was understandably greeted with a grimmer sort of enthusiasm than the store's grand opening in November 1997. Then, Mayor Ed Rendell and City Council President John F. Street made an appearance, hailing the dawn of a new, lucrative retail venture.
Cookie Monster and Chinese dragon dancers cut loose. Strains of a live chorus of employees belting out a Kmart version of "Downtown" echoed throughout the store's two floors, which encompass more than 110,000 square feet.
The tunes for Sunday's mop-up shoppers were strictly piped in, with lyrics inviting subtextual interpretation like Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know."
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Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20...ts_long_goodbye.html#q8ZU6qtdwgkuLpVw.99
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