Mixed-use developments transform retail industry

Posted online March 5, 2006 | 11:00 pm

Blending other uses with retail business is an idea taking hold among retail developers, and that blend was the focus of industry experts at the Urban Land Institute’s Reinventing Retail Conference held in February in Los Angeles.

Creating a destination and a sense of community can come from any combination of entertainment, gaming, restaurants, student housing, shopping or lifestyle retail within a development, according to Blake L. Cordish, vice president of The Cordish Co. in Baltimore. The Cordish Co. uses public/private partnerships to create entertainment districts that hold public events and live music, such as the Power & Light District in Kansas City and Ballpark Village in St. Louis.

Adding new uses, such as a library or a post office, creates opportunities for retail as a generator of communities. This effort toward creating community in retail projects requires seven elements: cultural mix; multiple anchors; place making; identity (branding); social retailing; identity retail; and event retail.

“People come to experience the overall environment that they don’t get elsewhere,” said William S. Taubman, CEO of Taubman Centers, Inc. in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., in a ULI news release.

When it comes to branding a retail site, the identity should be both localized and place-based, and there should be a connection between identity and the experience, according to Michael S. Rubin, president of MRA International in Philadelphia.

“Branding is about engaging people and creating an identity,” he added.

Demographics, level of education and household income are critical factors in choosing a location, said Steven Schussler, creator of the Rainforest Café, which he sold in 2000.

Up next for Schussler is T-REX, which will open in Kansas City in late April. T-REX, he said, provides an interactive education experience with dinosaurs, fossils and space travel, and is a place where families can eat, shop and explore.

“Find a way to give somebody something they won’t forget,” Schussler said.

The Urban Land Institute is a nonprofit education and research institute supported by its members.

Its mission is to provide responsible leadership in the use of land in order to enhance the total environment. [[In-content Ad]]