Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Issue link: https://sct.epubxp.com/i/803877
12 S C T / A P R I L 2 0 1 7 T H E C O M M O N A R E A O n a recent trip to Owings Mills, Md., Richard Latella stopped for lunch — and to observe a bit of retail industry evolution unfold in real time. "I was watching as they knocked down Owings Mills Mall, a once- thriving property," said Latella, who heads Cushman & Wakefield's retail valuation and advisory group. "It was beautiful when it was built." The property, built in 1986, gradually lost favor and declined. Kimco is redeveloping the project into an open-air community center. Latella, however, is no doomsayer over the future of large-scale brick-and-mortar properties. "I don't believe the mall is dead," he said. "I just believe it needs to re-create itself." Lagging malls like Owings Mills are precisely the types of properties that landlords seek to reinvent, Latella says. To be sure, name changes — often with the word "mall" falling by the wayside — are likely to accompany major reboots and less-ambitious redevelopments alike, says Frederick J. Meno, CRX, CSM, president and CEO of asset services for The Woodmont Co. "We're probably going to see that more and more, especially with the underperforming malls, where perhaps the owner-operator is looking to distance itself away from the 'mall' definition and stereotype," he said. "The goal is to turn it into something else that resonates more positively with the shopper." But not everyone is out to ditch the "M" word. "It really depends on how the property is performing," Meno said. He cites the internationally known King of Prussia Mall, northwest of Philadelphia, one of the most productive malls in the U.S. "If they bring in some big-box, open-air type of tenants, they're still not going to want to call it, say, Town Center King of Prussia," Meno said. "That is a dominant, well-performing center in the market and trade area; the shopper knows that property by its existing name, and there is no need to reclassify it." The word "mall" is part of other strong brands as well. When Mall of America did a visual rebrand in 2013, there was no need to change its successful name to something else, Latella notes. GGP, for one, backtracked after rebranding Natick (Mass.) Mall. The firm "changed the name 10 years ago or so to the Natick Collection, and then they went back to the name Natick Mall once again," Latella said. "The residents who lived there thought of it as the Natick Mall." Latella points to Triple Five Group's massive new mall set for the New Jersey Meadowlands: "The biggest gorilla out there today is American Dream," he said. "Notice: The word 'mall' is not in the name." n Some properties will always be called 'mall,' no matter how much transformed By Joel Groover Malls forever 50 AND FABULOUS M A LL S Orange County, Calif.'s South Coast Plaza is celebrating its 50th anniversary in high style. The property is working with publishing house Assouline to print a commemorative book. And the mall's management also worked with a series of luxury brands, including Gucci and Tod's, to create limited-edition merchandise exclusive to the mall's boutiques.