 |
May 2005
|
Gift Cards Keep Giving
More and more independent outlet centers cash in on gift cards’ growing popularity. Gift card programs give the owners of one or two centers a chance to rake in sales with minimum effort while leveling the playing field a little in their competition with major outlet-center developers.
Features
 News Up Front
Two outlet icons in Orlando prepare to change hands as the parent of Prime Retail contracts to buy the two Belz Enterprises-operated centers there. The pending deal is valued at $180 million, or $200 psf. And in a separate story, SugarOak Properties sells its Dry Ridge(Ky.) Outlet Center to a West Coast investor, underscoring the successful turnaround of the strip project that had fallen on hard times.
Seattle Premium Outlets
Chelsea Property Groups’s Seattle Premium Outlets is scheduled to open on May 5 near a casino on an Indian reservation, a site with unparalleled visibility from a major interstate.
Louisiana Boardwalk
O&S Holdings and a local partner roll out their splashy 550,000-sf Louisiana Boardwalk in Bossier City, La., on May 12. Built along the Red River, the center merges outlet retailers with a heavy dose of entertainment-oriented tenants and amenities.
Competition Evolves Retail
2004 was good for retailing compared to the last few years - butonly modest from a longer historical perspective. As one sector weakens, however, others change and strengthen, leading to interesting tenant mixes and new shopping-center sectors, ICSC President and CEO Michael P. Kercheval told the Mid-Atlantic Idea Exchange in March.
Dubai Q&A
The developers of a huge, proposed outlet mall in the city-state of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates have a big advantage from the get-go: No competition.
Marketing Might
Paula Rowland, named chief marketing officer for Prime Retail earlier this year, shakes up the company with a mandate to be bold. But, she confesses, she has no grand plan: “I’m not a marketing person. I make it up as I go along.”
Expanding Universe
The second phase of The Shops at Las Americas will open on May 20 in San Ysidro, Calif., adding 189,000 sf of retail and restaurant space to the 365,000-sf project. And planned expansions are announced for Prime Retail’s Prime Outlets in Queenstown, Md., and Cordish Co.’s street-front outlet project - The Walk - in Atlantic City.
|
