Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Craig Realty Group moves forward on the Outlets at Traverse Mountain

by Cathy Allred - Daily Herald  

Daily Herald Plans begun in 2006 for an outdoor lifestyle mall southeast of Cabela's in north Lehi, put on hold during the recession, are back on track and moving rapidly.

Craig Realty Group, headquartered in Newport Beach, Calif., had an artist's rendering of its proposed design for Outlets at Traverse Mountain presented to Lehi staff and council members on March 8.

"They have come to the day where they are actually ready to move things forward," said Lehi Economic Development director Doug Meldrum. "The client is pretty aggressive. ... this is something they are anxiously pursuing."

Considered one of the leading full-service real estate development companies, Craig Realty specializes in the development and management of income-producing, upscale factory outlet centers. The company owns and manages 10 centers, nearly 4.3 million square feet of existing retail development in six states, and five more centers are in the planning process.

The proposed Outlets at Traverse Mountain will be located on 50 acres in the master planned community of Traverse Mountain and is designed to have 467,921 square feet of retail space with 41,000 square feet for restaurant pads. Also planned, a three-story parking garage will provide sheltered access to the outlets.
Seventy percent of the space is leased to businesses whose names were undisclosed at the meeting.
"I think the reason this is moving forward now is because Craig Realty has enough leases that are signed to move forward with the project," Meldrum said.


He also said he thought that the Adobe announcement has generated excitement in the area and has helped the project move forward more quickly.

The Craig Realty outlet project site is situated cross the train tracks from Adobe's proposed campus announced in 2010. Once approved, the outdoor mall will be built in two phases with the first phase consisting of 240,000 square feet.

"On our presence being a catalyst for economic development in the area, there's probably no way to tie an absolute correlation but I think it's safe to say that it's helping in a significant way," said Jonathan Francom, Adobe Lehi director. "That was a main objective for Traverse Mountain when they sold us the property. Having us move in next door with a 1,000-plus employees, can only be a good thing."

Not only this, but city leaders anticipate other plans in the area will reawaken and take hold. A hotel planned five years ago is expected to come before Lehi City again.

"With Adobe coming in and this, we anticipate they will build if not them another hotel will," said Jamie Davidson, Lehi city administrator.

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