Dillard's to anchor new center with retractable roof by Peter Corbett - Sept. 18, 2008 04:40 PMThe Arizona RepublicDubai. Salt Lake City. Northeast Phoenix.
All three areas have uneven weather. They also may be the only three cities in the world planning major outdoor malls with retractable roofs.
Move over, Chase Field.
Westcor, the Valley's largest mall operator and developer, said Thursday that Palisene, a million-square-foot luxury center planned for the corner of Loop 101 and Scottsdale Road, will have a retractable roof. The company also announced that Dillard's is the first of four expected anchor tenants to sign at the center. No other tenants have been announced, but Scott Nelson, a Westcor vice president of development, said the roof will be a reason retailers will want to sign on. "Palisene is going to be a streetscape," he said. "It will have an outdoor feel, with pavers and concrete. The difference between it and other outdoor centers is that we can use the roof during the four months of the year we want to control the climate." Erin Hershkowitz, media-relations specialist for the International Council of Shopping Centers in New York, said, "It's a great idea. I don't think it is very common. What we have been seeing a lot of nationally is centers being built without the roof. But, in certain climates, you don't want to deter a customer from going shopping on a day that is very hot or very cold." At least two other sites have malls with retractable roofs in the works right now.
The Grove, a 5.3 million-square-foot center planned to open this year in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is said to have an indoor-outdoor streetscape that will be enclosed with a retractable roof in hot or rainy weather. City Creek Center, a 25-acre project planned in Salt Lake City, also has plans for a retractable roof. Salt Lake's Desert News reported earlier this year that the cost of the roof could reach $1.5 billion. Nelson said Westcor is still mapping out ideas for Palisene's roof, so he has no cost estimate. "We are very aware that it can be done and have planned it as such. But we are not very far along on the technical aspects," Nelson said. "There are two ways it could be done. It could run lengthways along the pedestrian mall. Or it could back away over the roof of the retailers." The retractable roof is not a new idea for Westcor. Scottsdale Fashion Square has skylights that open. But Palisene's roof will be done on a far larger scale, Nelson said. "We will be able to take advantage of the best of both worlds," Nelson said. "The idea is providing an atmosphere that both the retailer and the shopper want to be at, . . . an environment that can perform to the highest level year-round." Palisene is planned to open in 2010 or 2011, according to Westcor. "We're making great strides in realizing our vision for this high-profile Scottsdale Road intersection," Art Coppola, chief executive of Macerich, Westcor's parent company, said in a statement. Palisene will add yet another large shopping center to the Loop 101 corridor in the northeast Valley. CityNorth is set to open its first 10 buildings Nov. 13, northwest of 56th Street and Loop 101. Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's and Macy's plan to open department stores at the 144-acre, mixed-use project in late 2010. Westcor and DMB Associates Inc. are partners in One Scottsdale, which is under construction just east of Palisene on the Scottsdale side of Scottsdale Road. Dial Corp. is completing its headquarters at One Scottsdale, and a luxury shopping center is scheduled to open there in 2010 or 2011, Westcor spokeswoman Anita Walker said. Palisene will be built on a site that Westcor acquired in April. The company paid $99 million for 112 acres of state trust land. Initial plans call for the shopping center to occupy roughly one-half of the site with offices, residential and hotels filling up the remaining land. It will take 18 to 24 months to build the shopping center, Nelson said.
Westcor has been planning a regional shopping center at the site for nearly 20 years.
For More Information Click Here
Posts
