Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Issue link: https://sct.epubxp.com/i/62026
cycle of tenant improvements, and in affordable housing, which was needed after the housing crash," he said. Construction starts for shopping centers and stores are flat now, and the projections are for a year-on-year rise of just 0.1 percent, to 12,600 this year, according to Associated General Contractors. Most of the shopping centers in the planning and schematic stages are ones that were in practically the same stage before the downturn, says Dorsey. "A new shopping center is a rarity, but there are several that are being scheduled for light-to-medium internal renovations," Dorsey said. Since the start of the year, Triad has hired three assistant project managers and eight superintendents and was in the process of hiring a senior project manager at press time. Meanwhile, rising material prices are putting pressure on thin contractor mar- gins. In February alone the cost of paint and other coatings spiked 10.5 percent, while copper and brass fittings jumped 5.9 percent, and wallboard rose 5.1 per- cent — after rising 5.9 percent in Janu- "A new shopping center is a rarity, but there are several that are being scheduled for light-to-medium renovations." RETAIL CONSTRUCTION NEW THE BEST 135th Corridor, Overland Park, Kansas Visit our booth at ICSC - C 1244 VON MAUR'S CHOICE for its only K.C. department store 90,000+ average daily car traffic 1.1 MILLION SQUARE FOOT retail village under development OCCUPANCY AVAILABLE August 2012, Phase 2 available August 2013 LIFETIME FITNESS'S CHOICE for its K.C. metro club of 23,000 members WITHIN 1 MILE 169,000 affluent residents $157,429 average HH income ary. Contractor bid prices, on the other hand, remained flat, suggesting that the firms must be swallowing most of these increases. Financing remains challenging for new projects, leading some developers to ask contractors to become partners and to cough up cash for winning jobs, says William Di Santo, president of Schiller Park, Ill.–based Englewood Construction. Construction of value- based retail projects will continue through this year, he says, and so will growth among the likes of Advance Auto Parts and AutoZone, which are profiting from a trend among consum- ers to keep their cars longer. High-end brands will keep spending on renova- tions of existing stores, and fast-casual restaurant franchises will probably grow too, he says. Capriotti's Sand- wich Shop, for one, announced plans for 300 new restaurants over the next five years. The pace of hiring in retail con- Download Site Plan Mike Schlup Corbin Park M (816) 550-5539 mschlup1@aol.com corbinparkop.com Sheryl Vickers, CCIM Copaken Brooks O (816) 701-5000 svickers@copaken-brooks.com copaken-brooks.com struction will not be particularly ag- gressive just yet, says Dorsey. "Since the economy's downturn, companies have become leaner," he said, "and they are beginning to appreciate the advantages of being that way." SCT 154 SCT / MAY 2012