A survey says lifestyle centers are not overbuilt

REBusiness Online has just completed an unscientific online survey of its readers, asking the question: Is there a surplus of lifestyle centers?

Of the respondents, 53.6 percent said there is not a surplus and that the industry is not in danger of overbuilding this product type. Another 19.8 percent agreed that there is not a surplus but said overbuilding is quite possible. That's a total of about 74 percent who said there is no surplus. The remainder -- 26.6 percent of respondents -- said there is indeed a surplus.

Another survey question was: How should developers approach lifestyle development in the future? The online magazine received some interesting answers to that question. A few of them follow:

"Not all developments marketed as 'lifestyle centers' meet the definition for such centers. ULI developed a standard definition of such centers several years ago; only those centers that meet that definition — those including a mix of uses, retail, office and residential — should be called 'lifestyle centers.' Many 'lifestyle centers' are called that because the developer has included restaurants with retail and made the center open-air rather than enclosed or a strip center; those are not 'lifestyle centers' and should not be so labeled."

"I find parking to be my biggest concern, as the general layout of a lifestyle center does not allow for large parking fields near the tenant areas that require the greatest number of spaces."

"Not every new development needs to be 'lifestyle.' There are not that many tenants to fill all the expected development. There will be significant fallout in these centers due to tenant-oriented co-tenancy clauses that will begin to kick in as consumer demand and sales volumes retreat in the next few years, and if an expected turn in the real estate cycle comes to fruition. When these events occur, lifestyle centers will undergo some fundamental changes."

These are thoughtful comments.

Permalink: http://womblemultifamilyandmixeduse.blogspot.com/2007/02/survey-says-lifestyle-centers-are-not.html

Mixed use approaches middle age

In the Jan. 22, 2007, issue of Real Estate Business Online, http://www.rebusinessonline.com/article_archive/01-22-07.shtml, shopping center consultant Jeff Green speculates on whether lifestyle centers and mixed use have run their course, or whether there is life remaining in the form. He concludes that there is plenty of time and life left.

Mixed-use developments, Green notes, "are appealing to communities, including the high growth ones with outstanding demographics. They are a means to jump-starting a community destination or gathering place and, when done well, have a valuable role in identity building. And, unlike some of the pie-in-the-sky streetscape programs of the past, the best communities are listening to the end-users, bringing about mixes of uses that are less likely to sit empty."

As far as what the future holds, Green has some interesting speculation:

"In the quest for locations for retailers, the lifestyle center must continue to find holes of potential. This means becoming more of a community hub that can combine destination, convenience and service. We are already seeing smaller lifestyle centers, often no more than 80,000 square feet, which are comparable in size to most strip centers. As developers identify these niche locations and demographics, there is an opportunity to re-introduce, in up-scaled fashion, the service component of retail that is often missing in the modern environment. Examples include hair salons, smaller spas and skin care centers, designer eyeglasses centers, ethnic and specialty grocers, or artisan bakeries.

"The lesson or direction is not to overstore America by building another generic or prototype lifestyle center wherever one can be shoehorned in, as we may have done in the heyday of regional malls and their department store anchors. Prototype centers may have been OK for the first incantation of lifestyle centers. Not now."

The idea is not to repeat with mixed-use and lifestyle centers the same errors that were made with traditional malls.

Permalink: http://womblemultifamilyandmixeduse.blogspot.com/2007/01/mixed-use-approaches-middle-age.html