Redeployment Of The Largely Vacant Strip Mall
So I looked at a strip mall today with both anchors vacant. Used to have approx. 50,000 square feet grocery at one end and what looks to have been a 50,000 square foot big box retail at the other (maybe a K-mart?)
I would consider this a C- location. Not a lot of competition but not a lot of traffic either. Decent demographics.
The anchors appear to have been vacant for a considerable time. Oddly enough the strip in between them seems to be doing pretty well given the vacancies on both ends. Mostly rented mostly looking prosperous. Has a Wendy's in an outlot.
Now the anchors have clearly been vacant a long time. 2 to 3 years at least. While they are not listed with a first line commercial broker I gotta assume that if there were any takers amongst the majors they'd be gone by now.
So my question is this: Any ideas for creative re-deployments of this 100,000 square feet of vacant retail space?
What type of stores are there that seem to be successful? High end retail? Dress shops, that type of thing? Or is it more moderate, household items, books, that type of stuff? I'd look at what types of people the strip seems to be attracting and then figure out what else that specific group might like. More than likely, you'll probably have to divide the vacant space up. Grocery stores in particular seem to need something very specific, that apparenlty hasn't been figured out yet, because I've seen several strips like the one you're describing where everything else is successful, but groceries just aren't (and I've seen ones where 2 or 3 national chains have each tried their hand with a spot and none of them could make it work).
The remaining "big name" operation is a Walgreens (sister to the now-departed Dominicks grocery anchor). The balance of the stores a pretty small, a tanning salon, a dollar store, etc.
Commking,
Why do you think they have sat vacant for so long? Does it have fire code violations? Poor location? lease rates out of step with reality? Why no takers? I see a lot of good retail centers that become victims of cannablization...new retail center goes in down the street and everyone jumps ship, etc. etc. Is this the case here? It is almost impossible to get space like that re-leased here in my neck of the woods. We typically have to tear down and rebuild, or at least give a serious face lift. I also do a lot of residential loft space above retail...would something like that work on this site?
It's always interesting to me to see the mechanics behind retail centers going dark.
Joe,
Well canibalism is certainly a factor in the equation. The grocery anchor closed because they opened another, larger, store close by. And I think the other anchor must have been a venture or a K-mart that died of other causes than the location.
The location is certainly not prime. Traffic count is OK, I would guess, but not great but the area does seem under-served to me.
The mystery of why some locations go dark and others thrive is one of those that if we could figure it out would make us fortunes. Tell me more about your residential loft above retail. We do some of that but mostly in older neighborhoods in existing buildings. The residential market in this location does seem stronger than the commercial. [ Edited by commercialking on Date 08/18/2004 ]
Commking,
Sorry for the delayed response...took a couple of days off to play!
We have found a strong demand here for lofts over retail....usually open spaces, 10' or 12' ceilings, hardwoods, granite tops, etc. etc. Done over the right kind of retail it works great. We have also had good success where the retail is converted to office condo's and then put lofts above. This way the owners of the offices can live above their place of work and never have to drive. If you can attract the office market, which as we know is largely not overly location dependant like retail is, then it can help create vibrancy in an otherwise dead area. Our office market has been slow around here though so we aren't doing a lot of that at the moment but it is still a good option in the right market. Your problem is that if you have a 50,000 sq. ft. anchor space then it would be hard to divide that up easily to office condos!
This might not work for a 50,000 square foot footprint, but what I have seen go over well here is the conversion of vacant buildings in strip malls into fine dining restaurants. The customers just have to get used to having no windows ... which can be handled in various ways interiorly ... mirrors, wallpaper ... artwork ... dim lighting. If they get there and the food and service is really top-notch, they don't mind that they had to drive to a strip mall to experience it. My guess is that if a K-mart and a grocery store were there ... then there must be SFR nearby to support something like this.
Depending on the location and surroundings, too ... you could do some kind of sports/entertainment gig ... like a paintball game park ... if it's 50,000 ft2.
How cool would that be! Any youth in the neighborhood? Is it near a high school/middle school?
Or perhaps an exercise facility with an indoor track/spongy stress-relief floor, indoor swimming pool (these go over better when there's large window-walls in the pool area), indoor tennis courts, etc...
Maybe you could let us know about the general area since the other retail ideas have not been successful there. Looks like this one is all about catering to the community.