CCLB 02-18-08 A 13 CCLB 2/14/2008 4:14 PM Page 1 FEBRUARY 18-24, 2008 CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS 13 INSIDE 15 URBAN DESIGNER SEES PROMISE IN EAL STATE CITY’S R E LANDSCAPE. COMMERCIAL OUTSIDE THE BOX Smaller shopping plazas borrow design concepts from lifestyle centers By STAN BULLARD
[email protected] spate of new, small Northeast Ohio shopping centers is borrowing design concepts from the big boys at Westlake’sA Crocker Park and Lyndhurst’s Legacy Village. Employing cues from neo-traditional design and lifestyle centers, several new developments have stores positioned closer to main streets or located in MARC GOLUB PHOTOS Emerald Square, a retail development at Crocker and Center Ridge roads in Westlake, echoes some of the designs and concepts of lifestyle multiple buildings separated by sidewalks centers, such as Crocker Park in Westlake and Legacy Village in Lyndhurst. or driveways. Also called “neo-urban,” the strategy recalls the designs of downtowns or older streetcar-era suburbs. Although not without its detractors, the shift is dramatic from that of the standard suburban shopping center of less than 40,000 square feet. These new designs eschew the hallmarks of their older counterparts, which often include a sea of parking in front a big, rectangular building lined with stores or an L- shaped structure that hugs the property’s back side. Consider the setting at Emerald Square, a retail development at the northeast corner of Crocker and ABOVE AND RIGHT: 100 Mills, at North- Borough in North Ridgeville, features Center Ridge roads in Westlake.