5JCITY MARKETS The new frontiers A host of new developments and expansions are driving the North American shopping- centre pipeline. Debra Hazel looks at how the top retail cities are re-shaping for the future New York City Jersey, the never-opened American Dream (formerly Meadowlands Xanadu) now appears PROBABLY the most expensive market in to be taking shape. New developer Triple Five the US, New York is seeing its retail districts has signed Saks Fifth Avenue, Saks Off Fifth expand. In addition to the upcoming West- and Lord & Taylor, all HBC brands, for the 3 mil• field WorldTrade Center and recently-opened lion sq ft retail colossus. Joining them will be Brookfield Place (see page 10) downtown, Aritzia, Banana Republic, Gap, Mac, Microsoft, other mixed-use developments are creating Pink, Uniqlo, Victoria's Secret and Zara. En• new retail districts. tertainment includes an indoor ski slope. The Hudson Yards, Manhattan: Now under devel• opening is now set for late summer 2017. opment on the Far West Side over rail yards, The Shops at Syosset Park: Planned for a this project from Related Companies will holiday 2018 debut, Simon Property Group's feature five office towers, 5,000 residences, project in Oyster Bay, New York, will include open space, a public school, and a 100-shop 450,000 sq ft of retail, restaurants and en• retail complex anchored by the first Neiman tertainment, up to 200,000 sq ft of class-A Marcus in New York City and dining from office space, hotels and residential spaces Thomas Keller. in eastern Long Island. Empire Outlets, Staten Island: Being built Roosevelt Field: Built on the airfield from near the Staten Island Ferry Terminal just 20 which Charles Lindbergh departed for his minutes from Manhattan, this 1 million sq ft historic flight to Paris, this mall is being ex• (92,900 sq m) open-air centre is the first true panded again to add the only Neiman Mar• outlet project within New York City. Develop• cus on Long Island. er BFC Partners has signed Nordstrom Rack Green Acres Mall, Valley Stream: Located and H&M as anchors, with Gap, Banana Re• just outside the New York City line in Nassau public, Guess, US Polo and dining to be part County, this enclosed mall is seeing local off- of the mix when it opens in 2016. price legend Century 21 open this autumn, Staten Island Mall, Staten Island: Owner as an adjacent 20-acre (8.09 ha) parcel is be• General Growth Properties (GGP) will add ing developed into a power centre with big- 427,000 sq ft to this enclosed centre, which box retail. has dominated the borough's retail scene for decades, by 2017. Most interesting is the in• Boston clusion of a Fairway Market to the tenant mix With unemployment rates dropping more — combining a supermarket with fashion an• than 120 basis points to 3.8% from April chors and tenants remains a rarity in the US. 2014 to April 2015— well below the US aver• Suburban New York age — mixed-use construction featuring res• idential and retail space is remaking districts New York's suburbs, ironically, are some in the city. As young professionals return to of the most under-retailed markets in the downtown, supermarkets including Roche US, the reason being that the population is Bros, Star Markets and Wegmans all have dense and the barriers to entry (including found or are looking for locations. zoning and lack of available land) are high. Copley Place: Simon Property Group is reno• Yet it now is one of the most active areas in vating and expanding this luxury centre in terms of development. the Back Bay at a cost of $500m, adding American Dream Meadowlands: Just across high-end finishes, as well as designer retail• the Hudson River in East Rutherford, New ers including Moncler and Versace. ESSENTIAL USA © NOVEMBER 2015 Seaport Square: Twenty-three acres of South panded to include a 198,000 sq ft Saks Fifth iconic banyan tree will remain in the middle Boston waterfront will be converted into a Avenue in spring 2016, while the older Saks of the centre, which will open in August 2016. neighbourhood, with 6.3 million sq ft of resi• building is converted to luxury retailers. dential, retail, entertainment, office, hotel and Philadelphia cultural space. Approximately 1.3 million sq ft Los Angeles Philadelphia is in the midst of outlet mania, will be dedicated to retail, dining and entertain• With the downtown area close to the Sta• particularly in its central business district, ment uses, says developer WS Development. ples Center and LA Live seeing renewed Center City. Older centres are being reno• Miami interest, multiple developers are creating vated into new projects. mixed-use projects that will bring residen• Shops at Liberty Place: Bloomingdale's will One of the busiest retail markets in the tial and high-end fashion space to what had open at outlet store at this existing complex country, Miami is seeing massive develop• been a neglected area of the city. on Chestnut Street this month. ment, with 1.9 million sq ft under construc• Westfield Century City: Now in the midst Fashion Outlets of Philadelphia @ Market tion in the second quarter of 2015, according of an $800m renovation and 422,000 sq ft East: Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment to CBRE. Many international retailers now expansion, this centre will add an outdoor Trust and Macerich will turn The Gallery, consider Miami the second most important event arena, 70 shops and restaurants, park• which comprises three blocks on East Mar• location after New York, as international tour• ing and eight acres of outdoor space when ket Street in Center City, into 730,000 sq ft ism booms. completed in 2017. of designer outlet stores. American Dream: Canada's Triple Five is con• Del Amo Fashion Center: Nordstrom has tinuing to assemble the land for the project, joined this Simon Property Group centre, Washington, DC which it says will be the largest in the US, which opened on October 9. It forms part of Luxury tenants continue to find this afflu• with 2.5 million sq ft of retail, as well as en• a $200m, three-year renovation that added ent, ever-solid market, bolstered by law and tertainment. Plans call for retail, an indoor an upscale wing and deck parking. lobbying firms. Large mixed-use projects ski slope similar to that found at American The Village at Westfield Topanga: The $450m continue to dominate new construction. Dream Meadowlands, dining, a skating rink open expansion of the mall debuted in Sep• Clarksburg Premium Outlets: Being built by and a submarine ride on 200 acres tember, featuring a combination of large re• a partnership between New England Devel• The Mall at Miami Worldcenter: Not far from tailers including Costco and Crate & Barrel, opment, Streetscape Partners and Simon Brickell City Centre and to be anchored by and restaurants that continue to open. Property Group in an affluent corridor in Bloomingdale's and Macy's, the 765,000 sq ft The Bloc: part of the complete remaking of suburban Maryland, the 400,000 sq ft cen• development will also include 90,000 sq ft of Downtown LA, the former Macy's Plaza is tre will be home to 100 designer and name- restaurants and entertainment. Some 1,500 being redeveloped by Wayne Ratkovich into brand outlets in 2016. residential units will top the project, located an open-air collection of shops and restau• at the intersection of Interstates 95 and 395. rants, an office building, a hotel, a public It is being developed by Forbes andTaubman, plaza and the first linkage of the Los Angeles Toronto, Canada who created The Mall at Millennia in Orlando. metro to a private development. An Alamo The exit from US general merchandiser Tar• SoLe Mia Mainstreet: This 675,000 sq ft life• Drafthouse Cinema and updated Macy's will get has created vacancy throughout Canada style centre will serve as the core of Turn- anchor the retail. as it leaves nearly 15 million sq ft of space, berry Associates and LeFrak's $4bn 183-acre reports Cushman & Wakefield. However, master-planned community on undeveloped Honolulu the entry of Muji, Uniqlo and Nordstrom will land in North Miami. Among the proposed help absorb some of this space. It's all about tourism and constrained land tenants when the project is completed in Yorkdale Shopping Centre: The Oxford Prop• availability in Honolulu, with low unemploy• 2018 are a high-end cinema with dining, a erties centre is expanding both to the east ment (4 1% in April — below the national gourmet grocer and fashion retail. and the west, with the east expansion adding average), visitor arrivals increasing and rede¬ 298,000 sq ft including five levels of under• velopments taking centre stage. Houston ground parking, a 188,000 sq ft Nordstrom Ala Moana Center: One of the dominant re• and a 35,000 sq ft Uniqlo. The 120,000 sq ft Hit only lightly by the Great Recession and gional centres in the US, with some $1,300 west expansion will be anchored by Restora• thriving despite a decline in oil prices, Houston per sq ft in sales, the 2 million sq ft open-air tion Hardware (taking a former Sears loca• is a market that continues to attract new resi• mall is in the final stages of a renovation and tion). Both will open in late 2016. dents, especially those in search of compara• expansion by GGP Also joining the project next Sherway Gardens: Cadillac Fairview opened tively affordable single-family homes.