PLAINFIELD Village Administrator Brian Murphy and Planner Michael Garrigan Wednesday morning presented an advisory economic development task force with preliminary updates to several economic initiatives.

Some of those updates included progress on filling several outlots in the Meijers planned unit development at 135th Street and Route 59.

[We are] working with some of those retailers, including a 7,125-square-foot OReillys Auto Parts store, and additional retail space at 11,251 square feet, Garrigan said. The same developer has identified a [retail use] at the hard corner outlet.

Also progressing are discussion on a potential big box retailer coming to the Boulevards property at the old truck stop along Route 30 near Interstate 55.

That retailer became more interested once the village got moving on Route 30 construction, and it also would be part of a tax-increment financing, or TIF, district the village is entertaining along Route 30, Garrigan said.

Murphy and Garrigan also said staff is entertaining the idea of bringing back impact fees on developers to fill in the revenue lost with lower projected income tax revenue from the state.

Plainfield has higher impact fees than many surrounding communities, in part because of the high Plainfield School District 202 portion. So Murphy and Garrigan said the plan still is preliminary and staff is just looking at it.

This is one of our bigger challenges, Murphy said.

Coffee with the Mayor

More than 50 residents attended Wednesdays Coffee with the Mayor event, primarily asking about Route 30 construction.

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Plainfield discusses possibilities in economic development

New tenants coming to the redeveloped Rotunda shopping mall and apartment complex in Roland Park range from a pet store and a kebob restaurant to the Space Telescope Science Institute, which tells the famed Hubble telescope what to explore in outer space.

Last year, Hekemian & Co., owner of the Rotunda, announced that the mall would be anchored by a 17,000-square-foot MOM's Organic Market, which is scheduled to open this September, and Cobb Theaters' 35,000-square-foot CineBistro, a multiplex cinema with upscale dining. The theater is scheduled to open in spring 2016.

On Monday, April 7, Chris Bell, Hekemian senior vice president for development, announced several additional retail tenants, all chain stores, which have signed leases at the Rotunda. They include a Pet Valu store next to MOM's; a Moby Dick's House of Kabob restaurant; Massage Envy; Bella Beach, a salon and day spa; and Floyd's 99, a chain barbershop that Bell described as having "a funky vibe." He said it takes its name from Floyd the barber on the old TV series, "The Andy Griffith Show." The Floyd's 99 website calls it "the original rock 'n' roll barbershop for men and women."

Hekemian is also negotiating to bring in a fitness center that would lease 15,000 square feet of space, and a national coffee chain store, Bell said. He would not name those businesses, because no leases have been signed.

The only remaining retail tenant from before redevelopment began is a Rite Aid store, which is considering expanding within the mall, Bell said.

The redeveloped Rotunda, previously limited to retail and offices, will now also include a residential component of 379 apartments, to be called The Icon at the Rotunda, as well as a central "Town Square" plaza for the mall complex and 1,200 parking spaces about 300 surface spaces and the rest in two garages. The apartment building will have a courtyard, where Bell said residents will be able to grill out and watch TV, among other amenities. There will also be a resort-style pool, he said.

Construction of the redevelopment project as a whole is expected to be finished by the end of this year, Bell said. The first apartment tenants are expected to move in this summer. Hekemian already has an unofficial waiting list of people who have expressed interest in living there, he said.

Hekemian anticipates a mix of residential tenants, including Hopkins students, empty nesters and young professionals, and a mix of chain retail stores that gives them and north Baltimoreans in general "more choices, closer to home," Bell said.

"I think this part of Baltimore has been underserved with good retail," he said.

Rotunda as icon

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Space institute among newly named tenants at Rotunda

Vine Street in front of the Law Enforcement Center in downtown La Crosse will be closed for up to 18 months while the adjacent Lot C is converted from a parking lot into a proposed $68 million housing, retail and office development.

The parking lanes on Third, Fourth and State streets alongside the lot will be closed down as well for the project, which is being coordinated by C.D. Smith Construction of Fond du Lac for developer Weber Holdings LLC. The same company handled the three Riverside Center buildings for Logistics Health Inc. founder and CEO Don Weber, who heads Weber Holdings.

Closing off the parking lanes will make for tight quarters on Third and Fourth streets, the main north-south route through the downtown, but should be workable, said Matt Gallager, city traffic engineer. The construction company coordinated the plan with his office to make sure it was feasible, he said.

The closures wont happen until Monday at the earliest, said Cory Henschel of C.D. Smith.

Shutting off the 300 block of Vine Street will create space for construction trailers and equipment, including a crane that will go on the northeast corner of the lot, he said.

While the citys Board of Public Works on Monday approved closing the street and lanes until December 2016, it will be reopened as soon as possible to minimize the disruption, Henschel said.

Trying to make this as seamless as possible, he said.

Construction on the 2.3-acre lot is expected to begin this month, starting with the south side of the complex that will include 23,000 square feet of retail space, a cafe, an Associated Bank location with drive-thru, plus 93 market-rate housing units above the retail space.

While that section will be completed within the 18-month period, no timeline has been set for the 111,500-square-foot office building on the north side of the lot and it may not be done within this construction cycle, Henschel said.

Weber Holdings bought the 2.3-acre site from La Crosse County in late February for $1 million, after submitting plans last summer for a 255,000-square-foot complex that would add an estimated $34 million in new tax base downtown.

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Vine Street to be closed for Lot C construction

The vacancy rate for neigborhood and community centers improved 10 bps during Q1.

NEW YORK CITYAlthough retails recovery hasnt gathered speed as yet, it has become more consistent, Reis Inc. said Friday. Furthermore, the real estate analytics firm sees this year as, possibly, the year that improvement in market fundamentals begins to accelerate.

Underpinning this measured optimism is the broader economic recovery, with Reis chief economist, Ryan Severino, noting that 2015 could be the best year for labor market performance since the late 1990s. The quality of the jobs being created continues to improve which means higher incomes and higher income growth. Cheap energy prices should continue to be a boon for most consumers as they adjust their behavior to correspond with structurally lower oil prices in addition to structurally lower natural gas prices.

Following the trend of recent quarters, neighborhood and community center vacancy declined by just 10 basis points during the quarter to 10.1%, as did that of regional malls, which dipped to 7.9% in Q1.

Severino notes that while neither net absorption nor construction were particularly robust, demand exceeded supply by a wide enough margin to cause vacancy rates to continue falling. For neighborhood and community centers, vacancy has dipped by 10 bps in three of the past four quarters. This is hardly a resounding victory for this retail subsector, but this needs to be put in its proper contextjust a 40 basis-point annual decline in vacancy would be the best performance since 2000 during the dot.com bubble, Severino says.

In the case of the shopping mall segment, the 10-bp improvement followed a 10-bp vacancy increase during Q4 of 2014. Rents, however, have grown for malls in each of the past 16 quarters. As with malls, neighborhood and community centers saw rent growth during Q1, and as with malls, it was a relatively modest 0.5%.

Although rent growth remains weak, the fact that it even continues to grow in the face of such an elevated vacancy rate is a mildly heartening sign for the sector, according to Severino. Although Reis expects rent growth to accelerate as this year progresses, expect the acceleration to be slight due to the still-high vacancy rate.

Taken together, the data for both neighborhood and community centers and malls indicate that the recovery, while not yet accelerating, is becoming more consistent, Severino says. Quarterly rent growth is now the norm and continues to drift higher while vacancy compression, though slowing for regional malls, is also beginning to occur on a quarterly basis.

The quarterly improvement in market fundamentals should persist as the year progresses, says Severino. Inclement weather was a factor in weak consumer spending during Q1, yet as the weather becomes more temperate, a surging economy and labor market, coupled with low oil prices, should continue to support consumer spending and we expect to see an improvement in demand for retail space for the balance of the year.

In addition, Severino says, construction remained at low levels during the first quarter and is not set to change anytime soon. The combination of little supply growth and increasing demand bodes well for most retail formats in the US.

Link:
Retails Recovery Gains Traction, Gradually

LIBERTY TWP.

Midland Retail has signed Chipotle, Supercuts and AT&T for a new 11,444-square-foot retail center planned at the corner of Liberty One Drive and Cincinnati-Dayton Road in Liberty Twp., according to the commercial real estate firm.

Construction could start this month on Liberty Connection, and the building which has room for six storefronts is set to open by the end of the year, said Brad Austing, development and brokerage executive for Midland.

The location is situated on a major transportation artery exposed to 37,000 passing cars a day, Austing said.

We view the project as well-located, adjacent to a high-performing Kroger Marketplace, at the main entrance to Lakota East High School with over 2,600 students and Childrens Hospital which is undergoing a $162 million dollar expansion, Austing said in a written statement.

The significant residential growth in Liberty Twp. is to the north, east and west of the project.

Half of the available floor space at Liberty Connection has been pre-leased, and Midland is in talks with other potential tenants, Austing said.

Midlands retail center plans were approved, subject to some conditions, at Mondays Liberty Twp. zoning commission meeting, according to the township.

Elsewhere in Liberty Twp., construction is continuing on the $350 million Liberty Center project, the mega shopping, dining, residential and office complex under construction in Liberty Twp. at the crossroads of Interstate 75, Ohio 129 and Liberty Way. The center is scheduled to open its first phase consisting of more than 1 million-square-feet spread over about 65 acres in October.

Named Liberty Center tenants include Dillards department store, dinner-and-movie theater CineBistro, Dicks Sporting Goods, AC Hotels by Marriott, Brio Tuscan Grille, Cheesecake Factory, Kona Grill, Pie & Pints, Rusty Bucket Restaurant & Tavern and FlipSide.

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Chipotle, Supercuts among retail storefronts headed to Liberty Twp.

The citys industrial land is being gobbled up, so much so that new space may be added to meet demand.

Londons retail and office markets are stable. High-tech companies are scouring downtown to find space with exposed brick and beams.

In broad strokes, those are the trends outlined by commercial realty firm CBRE in its most recent outlook for the London market.

Sales in the industrial sector increased 50% in 2014 from the previous year, said Peter Whatmore, executive managing director of CBRE in London.

We have sold millions of feet in the last 18 months. There is a solid market recovery... New construction and building will be happening here.

Here is a snapshot look at the industrial, retail and office markets in London:

INDUSTRIAL

NOTEWORTHY DEALS

The London industrial market is experiencing some real optimism. We have become a more balanced market of supply and demand. There is a shortage of quality industrial space which might lead to more design build and construction, said Larin Shouldice, CBRE salesperson.

London is positioned well on the industrial side. We have ample land, and London is looking to acquire and service more land. With ample industrial development we expect another year of stable, modest growth.

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Resurgence in auto industry driving demand for industrial land in London

Two of Odessa's growing retail hubs will add businesses in the coming months that include a new cocktail lounge, a new version of a popular restaurant and a big-box pet store as building along the rapidly growing corridor keeps apace despite a downturn in oil and gas activity.

Construction workers at the Parks Legado Town Center on Tuesday continued building two new additions that developer Collin Sewell said should open this summer.

One is an expansion of Cork and Pig into an adjacent suite of the retail strip. Called Cork and Pig Market, the new restaurant will focus on take-out items such as pizza and caf-style dining.

The restaurant, more than 1,900 square feet, should open as early as May, Sewell said.

The other development is a new cocktail lounge, Proof, targeting a June 4 grand opening in a more than 2,400-square-feet space on the opposite side of the town center.

The idea is for an upscale bar offering craft beers and a cocktail menu while disallowing smoking and blaring music, said Colby Brazile, one of several local partners behind the project. He is also building the interior through his firm Brazile Design and Construction. There will also be an "etiquette" guideline that includes a dress code.

"We are invested in this, and we don't want to turn it into just a bar," Brazile said. "We are trying to make it a nice environment. It's going to be a wonderful place for people to visit and come have an evening cocktail before dinner or after dinner.

The business will have two mixologists and 15 servers for a capacity of about 100 patrons, Brazile said. Dallas bartenders are helping to develop the lounge.

Building permits showed initial estimates for both of the Parks Legado interior build-outs in the $300,000-to-$350,000 range.

Further west, a big-box mattress store is joining Chimney Rock. City records detail a more than $1.4 million permit for a shell building and another $1.5 million permit for tenant improvements at the same address. So far, a concrete shell is underway.

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191 Retail Round-up: A new bar, Cork-and-Pig Market, and a new Petco

Plans have been submitted for a Speke retail park development which could create 1,000 jobs.

A consultation was held last month to gather residents views on expansion of The New Mersey Shopping Park to include a new cinema, restaurants and more shops.

Bosses at the retail park say feedback was overwhelmingly positive and have now submitted their official application for the plans to Liverpool council.

Neil Ashcroft, New Mersey Shopping Parks centre manger, said: This planning application represents a significant investment in the shopping park and will continue the recent investment in, and regeneration of, the Speke area. Our shoppers are keen to see a new cinema and an improved restaurant offer, which will transform the shopping park into an attractive retail and leisure destination for this area of the city.

If approved, the plans could see New Mersey Shopping Park become the second largest employer in south Liverpool with over 2,000 people working on the park following completion of the works.

The parks expansion would create 600 full and part-time retail jobs and 390 construction jobs.

New images of what the New Mersey Retail Park in Speke expansion could look like

As well as creating new jobs, the proposals will see:

A new multiscreen Cineworld cinema and six restaurants

New shop frontages and public areas to improve the look of the shopping park

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Speke retail park plans could create 1,000 new jobs for Liverpool

REcord File photo

Westfield Garden State Plaza, the state's largest mall, had an occupancy rate at the end of 2014 that was better than the national average.

Construction of malls and new retail space screeched to a halt during the recession, and now, as a result of that, along with an improving economy, U.S. malls and shopping centers are enjoying their lowest vacancy rates in years, according to a report released Monday.

The report, by the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries (NCREIF), found that the mall occupancy rate was 94.2 percent at the end of 2014, the best level since the fourth quarter of 1987. Shopping centers - a category that includes all non-mall properties - ended 2014 with a 92.7 percent occupancy rate, the highest rate since the second quarter of 2008.

Westfield Garden State Plaza, the state's largest mall, had an occupancy rate at the end of 2014 that was better than the national average. As reported by its parent company, Westfield Corp., The Plaza was 97.1 percent leased at the end of 2014. Its 2014 sales per square foot, at $776, were 63 percent higher than the national average of $475.

The other three major malls in North Jersey - The Shops at Riverside in Hackensack, Paramus Park in Paramus, and Willowbrook Mall in Wayne - told The Record they do not release that information.

The report, which puts enclosed malls and unenclosed shopping centers in separate categories, also showed that net operating income, rents, and sales increased in 2014. Operating income at malls rose 21.3 percent in 2014 and it rose 8.3 percent at shopping centers. Base rents rose 17.2 percent at malls and 6.5 percent at shopping centers.

"We've seen this constant drumbeat, since the recession, of slow measured growth in all of the metrics as we go quarter by quarter," said Jesse Tron, a spokesman for the ICSC.

Tron said one reason enclosed malls have the best occupancy rates since the late 1980s is that a lot of new mall space was still being built in the late 1980s and the 1990s, and that kept vacancy rates higher. Now, Tron said, "we are at sort of historic lows in terms of the amount of new space that we're bringing to the market." Retailers "are as healthy as they were during peak construction years," he said, "but we're just not adding extra space for them."

The result, he said, "is we're now really seeing those occupancy rates start to climb," he said.

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Mall vacancy rate best its been in 28 years, report says

The construction of Seng Liang Wang Hall of Electrical and Computer Engineering will not only add additional academic space to students but will also give students and faculty a new dining experience.

Coming summer 2015, Another Broken Egg Cafe will be added to the retail space of Wang Hall.

The cafe is a breakfast, brunch and lunch cafe that originated in New Orleans in 1996. The brand has since expanded to approximately 50 locations across the country.

Students may choose to start their day off with a variety of menu items, including the Skinny Omelette made with egg whites, roasted vegetables and goat cheese, or enjoy the Crabcakes Cavallo Benedict with crab, Andouille sausage and house-made hollandaise for dinner.

The Purdue location will be unique in that it will be open for dinner service, said vice president and director of marketing for Hoosier Hospitality Group Peggy Cseresznyes. Whether an early class or an evening study session, guests will be able to enjoy everything on the menu.

The addition of Another Broken Egg Cafe will also play a role in feeding those going to athletic events. Wang Hall is situated on the north end of campus, close to Mackey Arena and Ross-Ade Stadium. The space will include approximately 100 seats, including outside seating.

Along with their extensive menu, guests 21 and over will be able to enjoy a full bar, making it a perfect post-game gathering space. While Another Broken Egg Cafe is planning on offering its standard menu, lower fare student specials will also be added later.

If we had that when I was back in school, we would never have to leave the engineering building, said Purdue College of Engineering alumnus Kevin Liang. Its a great way to let loose after finishing an electric and computer engineering lab.

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Purdue adds cafe to newly-constructed Wang Hall