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Published 4/18/2012 in Local News

City votes to set up TIF district following public hearing.

BY SHAJIA AHMAD

sahmad@gctelegram.com

With no opposition, city officials voted to establish a redevelopment district at the site of a proposed retail shopping center on the eastern edge of town.

City commissioners who met Tuesday opened and closed a public hearing on the topic with only one speaker, who spoke in support of the city's plan to assist with the development of the $67.2 million shopping complex proposed by Collett & Associates, a commercial real estate company based in Charlotte, N.C.

The proposed development, which would total 400,000 square-feet of retail space, is planned for a location just north of Schulman Avenue and south of Sam's Club, east of the U.S. Highway 50/83/400 bypass on about 61 acres of privately-owned land.

Menards, a home improvement retail store, already has submitted site plans to the city for a 160,000 square-feet store as part of the first phase of the retail center.

Already, city commissioners have unanimously approved a "memorandum of understanding" with Collett Properties, a move made in mid-January, with the intention to help secure financing for the first phase of the project.

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Retail project moves forward with vote

The Mall of America is getting some new tenants, including the first Doc Martens retail store in Minnesota, as construction continues at the Bloomington megamall.

The mall is taking a one-year break from its scheduled four-year renovation plan, sprucing up its four main corridors, one per summer.

Instead, this year mall officials are focused on renovating the vacant Bloomingdale's department store space and adjacent courtyard, plus erecting a skyway to a Radisson Blu hotel that's under construction.

"That's where the owners are investing the money," Bridget Jewell, a Mall of America spokeswoman, said Tuesday, April 17. Tenants going into the Bloomingdale's space haven't yet been announced, "but we're hoping to make an announcement soon," Jewell said.

Meanwhile, other new stores are being announced. They include:

-- Dr. Martens footwear next month will open its first corporate-owned location in Minnesota and second in the Midwest, after Chicago. The showcase corporate store will be on Level One, near the Nordstrom court, Jewell said.

-- Australian retailer Cotton On is opening two new stores at the Mall of America. One will be a clothing store, called Cotton On, featuring casual attire for men and women. It is scheduled to open in the summer. The second, called Typo, will sell stationery, cards and quirky gifts. It is set to open in June, on Level Two.

-- Surf and skate clothing retailer Tilly's is opening its first Minnesota

-- Masu Sushi & Robata, a popular Japanese restaurant in Northeast Minneapolis, is expanding in June to a second location at the Mall of America. The sit-down restaurant stressing sustainability will be on Level Three South, "kind of what we informally call our Restaurant Row," Jewell said.

-- ChaTime, a Taiwanese bubble

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Doc Martens, other new stores coming to Mall of America

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa The city is preparing to start construction this summer on a new parking ramp across First Avenue East from the city-owned hotel and Convention Complex, a ramp that may be bigger and more attractive with more first-floor retail space and a faster elevator than planned if the city receives favorable project bids.

The city puts the estimated cost of the ramp at $10.5 million and the skywalk at $1 million. Bids will be opened on May 2.

In addition to the basic bids for the ramp and skywalk, the city is asking contractors to provide four alternate bids for additions to the basic project if the base bids are favorable and the City Council chooses to fund them.

The first add-on would provide a more-attractive exterior cladding on the side of the ramp that faces Second Avenue SE, a cladding that is part of the basic bid for the two sides visible to First Avenue SE. The fourth side, next to the Theatre Cedar Rapids building, wont be noticeable.

The second add-on would add a seventh floor to the ramp. The basic bid calls for six floors and 460 parking spaces and the add-on would make the ramp a seven-story one with an additional 75 parking spaces.

The third add-on would provide for more first-floor retail space on the side of the ramp facing First Avenue SE than is called for in the basic bid.

And a fourth add-on would provide a faster elevator.

Sandy Pumphrey, building facilities capital project manager in the citys Public Works Department, on Monday said that the stakeholder group advising the city on the parking ramp feels an attractive facade is an important part of a ramp located in a prime downtown spot. The group is hoping that favorable bid prices also allow for the seventh level to be added to the project, he said.

John Frew, the citys consulting project manager on the hotel and Convention Complex projects, on Monday said cities often work to add some style to parking ramps in the heart of their downtowns by adding retail areas to the first floor and paying attention to facades.

There is a range and its a combination of functionality and style, Frew said. This could be just nothing but parking from the first floor to the top. And you could walk right by it, and say, Thats a parking ramp, because its unmistakable what they look like. But its pretty unusual to build a parking ramp right in the core of the city that doesnt have some design feature to it.

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Construction Moves Closer On New Downtown Cedar Rapids Parking Ramp

H. David Burton, longtime presiding bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the genial public face for the faiths decadelong effort to build a mammoth urban community of residences, retail shops and office space in downtown Salt Lake City, was released Saturday from the ecclesiastical post he has held since 1996.

The announcement by Dieter F. Uchtdorf, second counselor in the First Presidency, that Burton and counselors Richard C. Edgley and Keith B. McMullin would step down from their duties came just nine days after the church and Taubman Centers Inc. opened the retail component of Citys City Creek Center, across the street from Temple Square and LDS Church headquarters. The five years of construction began with the demolition of the old KeyBank tower and the Crossroads and ZCMI malls. It was a project that Burton, 73, helped guide since it was announced to the public in 2003.

At 700,000 square feet, City Creek is special for several reasons. Burton and his secular counterpart William Taubman developed the megamall at a time when retail projects of that size arent often constructed anymore. Whats more, the project, estimated to cost up to $2 billion, was bankrolled by the development arm of the Utah-based faith, which did not use outside financing or draw on tithes made by its worldwide membership. Finally, the massive project provided close to 2,000 construction jobs at a time when the economy was in a deep recession.

While Burton may be best remembered for his efforts over more than a decade to shepherd City Creek in to life, he first came to wide notice in the clash over the churchs Main Street Plaza, which closed Main Street between North Temple and South Temple. Court fights ensued. Community schisms appeared. Finally, in a controversial land-for-peace compromise, Salt Lake City, led by then-Mayor Rocky Anderson, gave up an easement on the plaza allowing the LDS Church to control speech and behavior there in exchange for cash and a community center in the west-side Glendale area.

Burton differed with Anderson over the mayors opposition to a Main Street sky bridge linking City Creeks east and west retail components. Anderson disparaged it as a "gerbil tube." Approval of the elevated walkway came after Andersons second term ended and Mayor Ralph Becker took the citys reins.

As presiding bishop, Burton and his counselors were in charge of the churchs land, buildings and commercial businesses.

But though an economics degree from the University of Utah and his masters degree in business administration from the University of Michigan prepared him for a business-focused career, Burton has said that his most satisfying moments were working with humanitarian groups in Utah and around the world.

Within a day of Haitis devastating earthquake in 2010, LDS officials in Salt Lake City mobilized the churchs extensive resources to help with disaster relief. Burton led the effort.

"Whether its with The Road Home here in Salt Lake City to provide transitional housing or shelter for the homeless or with the Red Cross and the Red Crescent in Africa to provide measles vaccinations, we are anxious to collaborate in unprecedented partnerships to help people, to alleviate suffering and to give individuals and communities the wherewithal to help themselves," Burton said last year upon receiving the Salt Lake Chambers Giant in Our City award.

Bishop came to the post of presiding bishop at age 57. He had served as a counselor in the Presiding Bishopric since 1992. Before then, he worked as its executive secretary and spent a year as the assistant church budget officer. He also worked for Kennecott Copper and the Utah Tax Commission.

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LDS presiding bishop, face of City Creek Center, released

WEST WINDSOR A retail makeover is in store for Princeton MarketFair mall, which is adding four new restaurants and a high-end furniture store, while shuffling a few existing tenants to put them into different slots on the floor plan.

One of the biggest changes will be the relocation of the Barnes & Noble anchor store on the malls south end to a spot formerly occupied by Restoration Hardware.

Barnes & Noble, which has launched into the electronic book market and also is selling more games, toys and gift items these days, aims to open a state-of-the-art book store in the new 28,000-square-foot space. A September 2013 opening is planned. The existing store will remain open during the entire construction period.

The string of new eateries will include Seasons 52, a wine and grill restaurant; Bahama Breeze, offering Caribbean cuisine; Qdoba, a Mexican grill; and Bobby Flays Burger Palace.

The new furniture and housewares retailer is West Elm, a purveyor of uncomplicated, modern designs, which has been operating a store at Nassau Park Boulevard. West Elm and the four new restaurants have all signed leases and will be opening new stores over the next two years, mall officials said in a release.

MarketFair has close to 50 stores. It is operated by Madison Marquette, a Washington, D.C.-based company, under contract from mall owners TIAA-CREF, an investment group.

Other changes are under way.

A week ago, a Banana Republic clothing store relocated from Palmer Square in Princeton Borough to a MarketFair location. The Princeton shop will be converted into a Brooks Brothers clothing store, beginning in June or July, said David Newton of Palmer Square Management.

Seasons 52 and Bahama Breeze will join Eastern Mountain Sports in backfilling the location currently occupied by Barnes & Noble, mall officials said. Seasons 52 will occupy 9,300 square feet with a planned opening in late 2013. Adjacent to Seasons, Bahama Breeze will occupy 8,500 square feet with an anticipated opening in early 2014.

The food court inside MarketFair will close April 22 while the space is redeveloped for the 7,400-square-foot West Elm, which is owned by Williams-Sonoma Stores.

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West Windsor mall rearranges its floor plan to add four eateries, furniture and apparel stores

A national leader in homegrown solar-thermal manufacturing will present a concept to South Middleton Twp. supervisors tonight for a neighborhood of about 290 apartments that would get their heat, hot water and air conditioning from the sun.

Brian McNew, owner of EarthNet Energy of Chambersburg, owns a 32-acre site at Marsh, Rockledge and Eastgate drives where the Summerbridge community is proposed.

I think this could be a model not only for South Middleton Township, but for the region for responsible, sustainable development, said John Snyder of RGS Associates of Lancaster, project engineer.

Initial drawings show 10 multi-unit residential buildings and five commercial pads, a community center incorporating an existing barn on the property, substantial green areas and a broad buffer with plantings separating the neighborhood from a well site that supplies municipal water.

Solar collectors manufactured by EarthNet would provide heat, hot water and cooling, and additional green technology would be incorporated in the communitys design and construction.

Snyder said that while the project will not be an age-restricted community, it is being geared toward older, active adults.

He said 30 to 60 percent of the housing units would have amenity packages that would appeal to seniors, such as first-floor master bedrooms, specialized bathing facilities and step-free entries.

McNew and Snyder stressed that the project is in its infancy and cannot proceed without zoning concessions.

The site, formerly a farm, is the only tract in the township zoned village-commercial, which calls for first-floor retail spaces in structures facing the street like a traditional small-town main street.

Market conditions dont favor that much retail space, Snyder said.

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Owner of EarthNet Energy draws up plan for 290 apartments, retail space powered by the sun in South Middleton Township

SMR Architects concept drawing of DESC's supportive housing project in the Delridge neighborhood of West Seattle. DESC director Bill Hobson recently said no sex offenders will be allowed to live in the supportive housing complex.

Sex offenders will not be allowed to live at DESCs Delridge Supportive Housing apartments, DESC Executive Director Bill Hobson confirmed at an advisory council meeting on March 27. Additionally, members of a pilot produce cooperative discussed their vision for the membership-driven, locally-sourced grocer to go in at the retail space facing Delridge Way S.W. once the building is up.

No sex offenders at DESC Delridge DESC (Downtown Emergency Service Center) plans to build a 66-unit apartment complex at 5444 Delridge Way S.W. with supportive services for homeless men and women living with serious mental/addictive illnesses or other disabling conditions.

Concerning the decision on sex offenders that Hobson said he basically committed to back in June of 2011, but made official this week, he said I think your concern about childhood safety is perfectly reasonable. I think that for people who do not know about the dynamics of homelessness or major psychiatric issues, the project coming to this neighborhood, the concern for property values is also a very legitimate concern for neighbors to have.

There are virtually none (sex offenders) in the homeless population, he added. It is less than one percent. They are not in the population for the most part and we will spring them out, we have access to the King County Sheriffs website and Im happy to talk more about our screening mechanisms.

Hobson then referenced a Seattle Times article he recently read that stated over 90 percent of sexual abuse cases are committed by a family members or close friends of the victims family.

No full-size grocery store, but possibly a produce cooperative Shifting gears, the Delridge Supportive Housing Advisory Committee turned to the question of what will go in at the retail space required in DESCs housing plan.

Parie Hines, co-chair of North Delridge Neighborhood Council, started off the conversation with a review of a study commissioned by several city and county organizations and researched by Diane Lupke & Associates, Inc. to assess the potential for a full-service grocery store in North Delridge. The need for local healthy food options in Delridge has been a longtime conversation for residents.

The findings of the study stated, Current incomes, population density, traffic counts and proximity to alternatives do not support location of a standard supermarket within the Delridge area, or, as Hines put it, I think it tells us what we already know: it is hard to build a grocery store in Delridge.

The study went on to suggest alternatives including subsidized markets (like the Food Trust on the East Coast), small independent grocers, mobile markets (like the Stockbox Grocer pilot that was in Delridge for a while), fresh food offerings at convenience stores (which is already happening at a few locations) and a co-op grocer.

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Sex offenders out, locally-sourced produce potentially in at DESC Delridge project

Credit: Main at Roan Partners LLC

Another project is about to make downtown Johnson Cityeven more attractive and meet a growing need there.

Another project is about to make downtown Johnson City even more attractive and meet a growing need there.

Three local businessmen are planning a $2 million new construction project at the intersection of South Roan Street and State of Franklin Road.

Main at Roan Partners LLC revealed the project will include retail space at the corner of the property and 27 loft apartments. Pending final city approval, Guy Wilson said he and his partners (Rab Summers and Tim Jones) hope to demolish the old building currently at the location in May and begin construction on the new three-story building in June.

According to Wilson, they want it to be ready for people to move-in by next spring.

Tim and Rab and I, our families grew up in Johnson City, we have a soft spot for the old downtown,Wilson said. We want to do something for downtown.

The Washington County Economic Development Council welcomes the news.

Its another sign that there are a lot of good things happening in downtown Johnson City and there are other signs as well, from public investment to a new restaurant that just opened, Economic Council Marketing and Community Relations Director Jeff Keeling said. "This is just a sign that people want to live downtown and want to spend time downtown and that private investors are willing to invest down here. Its on a really important corner. The corner of State of Franklin and Roan Street is very highly traveled and visible and it should be a very nice addition aesthetically to the area."

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$2 million retail, apartment space coming to downtown Johnson City

A new retail center will open on Gervais Street this summer with two new tenants and space for two more.

If Its Paper and SmartPhone Medic will move into the 9,000-square-foot, two-story center at 1801 Gervais St.

Bobbitt Design Build recently began transforming the building formerly a Michelin tire shop and plans to wrap up construction by July, a spokeswoman said. The new tenants will move in July 1.

If Its Paper will move to the more centrally located downtown site from North Main Street, taking a 4,000-square-foot chunk of the Gervais Street building, developer Cubby Culbertson said. Culbertson also owns a piece of each of the two stores that are moving into the spot.

Both of them are tired looking stores, Culbertson said. The new site will give them a fresh look in a good location, he said.

For SmartPhone Medic, it is much-needed space, he said.

The store, which repairs smartphones, has been operating out of a 200-square-foot spot nearby on Devine Street since August 2009, when it opened with a single employee. The new location will have about 1,100 square feet, Culbertson said, and employ nine.

The new store will have an iPad lab for repairing tablet computers and will include more display space. iPads becoming a huge market for us, Culbertson said.

The building also will include a 1,200-square-foot retail space upstairs, which Culbertson said would be a good fit for another tech business, such as computer repair or printing, or a business geared toward women, the target customer for If Its Paper.

The buildings downstairs will have another 4,000-square-foot space that could be used for retail, office or warehouse space, Culbertson said.

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Retail center to open in Vista

Oakley city officials have hired a contractor who will be building a restaurant in the downtown shopping center to oversee the entire revitalization of that site, but not without disagreeing over whether the decision is the best use of public funds.

The City Council agreed in a 4-1 vote Tuesday to pay the Sacramento company Ascent Builders Inc. up to $114,916 to coordinate the large-scale construction that's planned for the commercial center at Main Street and Vintage Parkway.

The topic appeared on the consent calendar, that part of a meeting's agenda where the council places routine items it plans to approve with a single vote unless a member wants to discuss one of them first.

The contractor previously had signed a deal with the owner of Carpaccio's Restaurant to build an eatery there, and City Manager Bryan Montgomery recommended enlisting it for this second job to ease the burden on a city staff that he said is already stretched thin.

Although various employees from the city's engineering, public works and finance departments among others will help coordinate the shopping center's overhaul, Montgomery reasoned in his staff report that Ascent Builders already would be on site and has someone with the experience to manage the multifaceted project.

The upgrade includes providing new quarters for La Costa, a Mexican restaurant on the site, as well as building a two-story structure on the westernmost corner of the shopping center

In addition, the city will create a public plaza, renovate Centro-Mart's facade, reconstruct the portion of Main Street adjoining the shopping center to make it more pedestrian-friendly, and create more space for parking.

But Councilman Jim Frazier objected to bringing the builder onboard without going through a competitive bid process, saying he would prefer the city first issue a request for a proposal to give local contractors a chance at the job.

"We owe them the opportunity to do a project in their own city," he said, adding that he at least wants to make the effort to protect taxpayers' interests. "We're being stewards of their money."

Because construction management is considered a "professional service," however, the city isn't legally bound to solicit estimates from multiple contenders or accept the lowest bid, city counsel Bill Galstan explained.

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Oakley hires contractor to oversee shopping center construction