Shopping Centers Today

MAR 2015

Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)

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if the carrier is unable to build, he says. Conversely, owners who fear they may be stuck in a bad lease may not realize that there is room for renegotiation, Odom says. He obtained a 343 percent increase from a reworked lease for one shopping center owner. Sometimes a roof can monetize an entire mall without actually being used. Such was the case with the Médiacité mall in Liège, Belgium. In search of a strong identity, its developers belatedly decided to add on an eye-catching can- opy-style roof after construction had al- ready commenced. It paid off — the roof itself, which features a complex network of undulating, latticed-steel ribs that cre- ate striking shopper vistas, has become something of an icon. Despite Médi- acité's 2008 rollout, during one of the worst downturns in history, it managed to open nearly fully leased. The roof transformed the project from a standard shopping center "to a fantastic archi- tectural experience that attracts visitors from far outside Liège," notes the World Buildings Directory online database. And other developments are incor- porating roof uses from early in the design stage, as is seen with New York City's Pier 17 building, which The How- ard Hughes Corp. is rebuilding as a cog in its redevelopment of Lower Manhat- tan's South Street Seaport. The com- pany first envisioned a rooftop park but soon realized the market would support a flexible event space for concerts, fash- ion shows, fairs and product launches, complete with rooftop restaurants, picnic areas, a canopy and movable furnishings and plants, says Phillip St. Pierre, the South Street Seaport's gen- eral manager. "There will be no place like this in New York City," said St. Pierre. "And our timing couldn't be bet- ter — Lower Manhattan has become the fastest-growing part of the city." Pier 17 roof visitors will enjoy views of the Man- hattan skyline, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Statue of Liberty and the like. The re-en- visioned roof required special engineer- ing and support that will be well worth the investment, according to St. Pierre. Pier 17 is to reopen, perhaps appropri- ately, by the summer of 2017. Shopping centers are employing roofs as power generators too, as is the case at a Macerich property, the 45-year-old Kings Plaza Shopping Center, in Brooklyn, N.Y. This mall has its own rooftop co- generation plant using multiple natural- gas engines that provide the property's electric needs and also export excess energy to the power grid. The engine ex- haust is used for cooling and heating. Solar panels are by far the domi- nant sustainable power generators for Macerich and others, in part because they are backed by generous govern- ment subsidies. In late 2012 Macerich began installing solar panels atop 11 of its properties in California, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut and New York, in partnership with Panasonic Eco Solu- tions, in a program designed to produce enough clean energy to power 10,000 homes. Participating shopping centers include Queens Center, in Elmhurst, N.Y., where panels are installed also atop the parking garage, and at Los Cer- ritos, in Cerritos, Calif., which actor Ed Begley Jr. praised at the unveiling last spring. Westfield Topanga and West- field Fashion Square centers, in Los Angeles, have two of the largest such rooftop solar installations owned and operated by a mall anywhere. The Fash- ion Square system provides nearly half the mall's common-area power, accord- ing to Westfield. PREIT (Pennsylvania Real Estate In- vestment Trust) is joining Safari Energy in a massive installation of some 5,000 solar panels atop the roof at its Cherry Hill (N.J.) Mall, a job scheduled for com- pletion by the end of this year. "We are creating significant economic value as well as generating environmental ben- efits," said Joseph F. Coradino, PREIT's chief executive. Other REITs, such as Simon and DDR Corp., are similarly us- ing mall rooftops for solar panels, which reportedly help shrink mall common- space utility bills by 30 percent or more. Some five years ago DDR launched solar projects in New Jersey — at Nassau Park Pavilion, in Princeton; Hamilton Mar- ketplace; and Route 22 Retail Center, in Union — and also at University Hills and Centennial Promenade, in Denver. Internationally, the Philippines' largest rooftop solar plant was intro- duced last fall, at Central Mall Biñan, in Laguna province. The 700-kilowatt system there, which was designed, built and installed by Solar Philippines with no up-front costs to the mall, provides in excess of 30 percent of the facility's power. The malls stand to save about P1.2 million (roughly $27,000) annually on electricity bills. Ikea, which has outfitted 90 per- cent of its buildings worldwide with solar panels, joins Costco, Kohl's, Walmart and others in embracing the technology. While Ikea and a few oth- ers have invested in wind farms, the installation of actual wind turbines atop centers remains largely impracti- cal — although micro turbines could eventually come into use in windswept 34 S C T / M a r c h 2 0 1 5 Wireless networks are increasing capacity from 60 to 70 percent annually, driving rooftop construction of cell towers on retail centers.

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