Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
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36 S C T / A U G U S T 2 0 1 6 A rtegon Marketplace has made a niche for itself by eschewing national retailers. Promoted as "the anti-ordinary anti-mall," this 865,000-square-foot indoor marketplace in Orlando, Fla., showcases the work of local artists in about 150 studio showrooms from which their custom furniture, blown-glass articles, apparel and similar craft wares are produced and sold. To be sure, there are a few major chains in the mix: Bass Pro Shops, Boot Barn, Cinemark, Fuddruckers and a handful of other national brands were already in place before landlord Lightstone Group acquired the property in 2010. And those stores have good reason for staying, considering Artegon's 93 percent occupancy rate and healthy consumer traffic. The center welcomed nearly 2 million visitors in the seven months following the completion last November of a renovation. Cin- emark and Boot Barn in particular have each invested millions of dollars to upgrade their Artegon spaces. Otherwise, though, as for the space currently available for lease at Artegon, national brands need not apply. "We are 'anti- ordinary,' " said Amy Higgins, a vice president of leasing at Lightstone Group and head of the team that signed up about 100 tenants to the property last year. "If we start bringing in national brands, it would dilute that charm." The project, built in 2003 as Festival Bay Mall, struggled to compete for tenants against nearby outlet stores and open-air shopping centers. When Lightstone Group took over, it made the bold decision to tap into Orlando's vibrant artisan commu- nity for tenants, offering shoppers the opportunity to buy one- of-a-kind goods directly from local producers. After a multiyear renovation that removed Festival Bay's namesake artificial lake, the property was reborn as Artegon Marketplace in Novem- ber 2014. The former lake space was converted into an entry plaza and a hall that houses Sky Trail, a sprawling indoor-ropes course. Initially, the owner built rows of cagelike enclosures for lease as artists' studios, but leasing and sales came short of what planners had hoped. Occupancy in late 2014 was below 40 percent. In June 2015 Lightstone hired David Miskin as chief cre- ative officer, directing him to identify the source of Arteg- BANISHING THE ORDINARY D E V E L O P M E N T D I G E S T F RO M RE ND E RIN G TO GR A ND O PE NIN G A former outlet mall reinvents itself as a market for artisans By Matt Hudgins