Thursday, March 1, 2012
Plans for Palm Beach Fashion Outlets
Demolition of the 1960's era Palm Beach Mall should start within about two months as developers plan its replacement with the Palm Beach Fashion Outlets.
Down will go 1.2 million square feet of enclosed, traditional mall that sits off Interstate 95 at Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard. Up will go 1.1 million square feet of outdoor-style mall, West Palm Beach Building Director Doug Wise said. Developers have said they plan to have outlet stores and traditional retailers.
New England Development, a Massachusetts-based real estate firm, partnered with Eastern Real Estate and Lubert-Adler to buy the 80-acre mall in October for $35.5 million.
Tom Carabine, who is working with the city for New England Development, said the design guidelines and master concept plan were submitted to the city Wednesday.
With a hoped for April start, the demolition will be carefully crafted to allow JCPenney and George's Music to remain open, Wise said.
"They've got some challenges to work through, to keep Penney's open, safe," Wise said.
The new configuration — an estimated $150 million project — will bring new life to the neighborhood and jobs, Wise said.
"It's going to be a huge improvement to the neighborhood," Wise said.
No one is identifying the new tenants, but marketing materials used to promote the center at trade shows last year envisioned such premium outlets as Nordstrom Rack, Bloomingdale's Outlet Store and Last Call by Neiman Marcus and such big-box staples as TJ Maxx, Bed Bath & Beyond and the Burlington Coat Factory.
New England Development CEO Stephen Karp said last month that a separate grocery store may be built at the outlet mall as well.
Originally, the new owners looked at renovating the mall, but decided there was too much competition in the enclosed mall market here, Carabine said. The new plans show an outlet center in one large block in the middle of the property with another row of stores lined up on the I-95 perimeter of the property.
Both JCPenney and George's Music are slated to move to the interstate side. Firestone is also staying at the mall.
"JCPenney wants to move into a new store before they give us back the old store," Carabine said. "They're not going to close at all."
The six phases outlined in preliminary site plans given to the city indicate the central block and replacement stores will be built first. Once JCPenney and George's move, then that portion will be torn down and more stores built along I-95.
Construction would start this fall, with those first stores opening in fall 2013, if the timeline holds.
"It's pretty aggressive," Carabine said.
So far, testing for hazards has found asbestos in "little bits, which you would expect to find in a mall this old," he said. The asbestos will be abated before the demolition.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Prospective Kembla Grange factory outlet developers plead case
The consortium behind a proposed factory outlet and bulky goods centre at Kembla Grange has made a last-ditch attempt to convince Wollongong councillors to support the project.
Representatives from international development group Leda Holdings and the site's owner, Total Recycling, met councillors yesterday afternoon to champion a rezoning proposal that would pave the way for the $110 million complex to be built on 18ha of land on Wyllie Rd.
Councillors will consider whether to allow retail use on the site, now zoned for industrial purposes, at Monday night's council meeting.
The proponents said the project would have enormous economic and social benefits, employing 800 people during construction and about 1000 shop workers once complete.
"We're asking the council to back this proposal in principle, so it can go on public exhibition and the community gets the chance to have its say," Total Recycling's Bill Bartlett told councillors yesterday.
The group earlier this week warned councillors the project would be "dead in the water" if the rezoning proposal was knocked back on Monday.
"We're not asking for development approval, or for the council to give final approval to the rezoning. All we're asking is councillors allow this to progress through to the next stage so the public can comment," Mr Bartlett said yesterday.
He also cited a 2009 IRIS survey of 404 Illawarra residents which found 94 per cent of respondents supported the proposal. The city's councillors have raised concerns over the impact the development could have on existing retail centres at Warrawong, Shellharbour and Wollongong, and the loss of industrial land if the zoning is amended.
But Mr Bartlett yesterday said the development would not destabilise existing shopping hubs or replace the city centre retail experience.
Mr Bartlett also took aim at the tone of the staff report to councillors.
He said council officers "are not looking at the factual data" that accompanied the rezoning application and were ignoring the fall of manufacturing in both the Illawarra and across the nation.
Neinver starts construction on second Warsaw outlet
From Lokale Immobilia by Adam Zdrodowski - Warsaw Business Journal
Developer Neinver has launched construction on Factory Warszawa Annopol, the company’s second outlet center project in the Polish capital. The scheme is located between ul. Annopol, ul. Toruńska and ul. Białołęcka in Warsaw’s Białołęka district and is scheduled to be completed in Q1 2013.
The development, which is being built by Budimex, will feature 19,700 sqm of space and will house 120 retail units. A parking lot located in front of the building will provide parking spaces for 1,400 cars.
“Ten years after the opening in [Warsaw’s] Ursus [district] of the first outlet center in Poland, we are building the second Factory in Warsaw, this time on the right bank of the Vistula River,” Barbara Topolska, general director of Neinver Polska, said in a statement.
“This part of the city has been developing dynamically in recent years and this is why we have decided to enrich its offer with a well-located and communicated outlet center in Białołęka,” Ms Topolska added.
The architectural design of Factory Warszawa Annopol was furnished by the APA Wojciechowski studio. The investment is the first retail project in Poland to have been BREEAM certified at the planning stage.
Nordstrom Rack launches ads in Words With Friends
Nordstrom Rack banner ad on WWF
Department store chain Nordstrom is targeting aspirational consumers through mobile banner advertisements for its Nordstrom Rack locations in the popular gaming application, Words With Friends.
Nordstrom is promoting a sale in its discount chain that will serve to drive consumers in-store. It also provides a location-based map so that users can find the closest Rack.
“Gaming app inventory can bring value to a luxury brand, but a brand must chose the right game – one that matches the quality and audience of the luxury brand,” said Elena Perez, director of marketing at Medialets, New York.
“Likewise, it’s important that the ad placement is integrated in such a way that it complements rather than disrupts the game experience,” she said.
The Nordstrom Rack banner ad appears at the bottom of the Words With Friends screen.
Nordstrom Rack banner ad
The “clear the rack” sale offers up to 75 percent off of designer goods at Nordstrom Rack stores Feb. 14-20.
When it expands, the banner ad includes an option to find a Nordstrom Rack store using the mobile device’s GPS.
The content on the landing pages are optimized for mobile.
Since Words With Friends is a game, it is likely that Nordstrom is trying to attract younger consumers.
Younger consumers are less likely to be able to buy from Nordstrom. Therefore, drawing these types of consumers to Nordstrom’s outlet Rack locations may help the department store establish relationships with younger consumers who may grow up to shop at full-price Nordstrom locations.
Expanded banner ad
Racking up points
Nordstrom is not the first luxury department store to use banner ads on Words With Friends.
In fact, New York-based department store Bergdorf Goodman used Words With Friends to drive foot traffic to its store with a location-based banner ad promoting an in-house event.
Bergdorf’s banner ad at the bottom of the screen endorsed a meet-and-greet with designer Nancy Gonzalez at the brand’s store that consumers could RSVP to on Facebook (see story).
However, Bergdorf’s content post-banner ad was not optimized for mobile, which could have made it difficult for consumers to RSVP to an event or even spend time with the brand.
Meanwhile, Nordstrom helped consumers further by offering to scout out the nearest Rack location for them and optimizing the content.
Nordstrom Rack map
“Mobile-optimized landing pages are important to any brand that wants to drive mobile audiences to their Web site [and] luxury brands are no exception,” Ms. Perez said. “For a consumer, a non-optimized mobile landing page will be difficult to navigate and easy to abandon.
“A non-optimized landing page appears broken and will undermine the experience and value of the campaign,” she said. “That said, brands that don’t have a mobile-optimized Web site or landing page are not out of luck.
“Mobile rich-media ads allow them to integrate the same type of content and interaction within the creative, sparing the time and cost of development on the Web site.”
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Armed Robbery at Premium Outlets
Aurora police hope the public can provide information on an armed robbery of a watch store earlier this month.
According to police, on Feb. 4 a man
dressed in black walked into the Tag Heuer store at 1650 Premium Outlets
Boulevard and told two clerks that he was robbing the store. The
suspect then took out a small handgun, handed a bag to the clerks and
told the clerks to put women’s watches and cash from the register into
the bag, police said. In total, the robber took $65,000 worth of
watches, plus an undisclosed amount cash, police said.
After the clerks handed over the bag,
the robber walked out the store and headed south, police said. Police
described the suspect as between 5-foot-11 and 6-foot-2 who, in addition
to his black clothing, had some sort of black cloth covering his face.
There were no customers in the store at the time of the robbery and no one was injured, police said.
Anyone with information is asked to call
investigators at 630-256-5500 or CrimeStoppers at 630-892-1000.
CrimeStoppers callers are anonymous and qualify for a cash reward of up
to $5,000.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)