Creating an urban retail experience that meets the demands of consumers while maintaining a specific neighborhood’s authenticity and history is a big challenge, but the outcome can yield immediate and longer-term success for all parties: retailers, customers, developers, owners and residents.
Fresh from the recent International Council of Shopping Centers Spring Convention, which encompassed intense deal-making and industry discussions among over 30,000 retail and development professionals, it’s clear that everyone recognizes the opportunity and challenges of creating successful urban retail experiences, including in Boston.
Signs Of Resurgence
The Greater Boston area continues its dynamic upswing with increasing population growth and a vibrant economy. Dozens of cranes are busy changing the skyline, as developers race to build and open the next generation of retail locations. There will be dozens of new retail spaces – including dining – all eagerly opening their doors between now and 2015, and beyond.
Developers and retailers are rethinking the urban shopping experience and are hard at work catering to many segments of the population, from Millennials to working families to empty-nesters, all of whom can just as readily be segmented by income, commuting route and distance or social preferences. ULI’s “2013 Generation Y: Shopping and Entertainment in the Digital Age” report concluded that shopping is seen as entertainment, and is done alone as well as with family and friends. It is clearly an extension of the social network. The most distinctive and successful urban retail environments will be those that remain authentic to a neighborhood’s qualitative roots and character while also creating a fresh and engaging experience.
Urban Significance And Value
In the past, some retailers were averse to developing locations inside urban centers. That attitude has changed as retailers become more comfortable with their understanding of cities and recognize that they have to think literally outside the box – that means adjusting their typical suburban store layout for a sometimes smaller urban location.
Target is one example of how a big-box retailer has adapted. In the Fenway neighborhood, Target will occupy a two-level, 120,000 square foot store on the second and third floors of a retail/residential/office mixed-use development that will be known as Van Ness. The project will include smaller retailers and restaurants on the ground floor. While there are not many developments in Boston that have a 60,000-square-foot floor plan, Target recognized this urban opportunity and was ready and willing to alter its typical 150,000-plus-square-foot suburban, ground-level, single-story layout. Through the thoughtful incorporation of a big-box store into an urban development, the retailer can minimize negative impressions about its influence over the character of a neighborhood and receive a warm welcome.
Another, somewhat smaller, example of a retailer recognizing the value of an urban presence is luxury furniture purveyor Restoration Hardware, which determined earlier this decade that it would focus on iconic urban properties for its new locations. Last year, it opened at a Newbury Street property that in the 19th century housed Boston’s Museum of Natural History. The four-level, single-user building, with its 10,000-square-foot plate sitting smack-dab in the center of a one-acre parcel of lush landscaping, underwent a major exterior and interior renovation, all while remaining true to its 1860s origins. The property and building received the Boston Preservation Alliance’s Achievement Award in 2013 and the Association for Retail Environments’ Grand Prize in 2014.
The Power Of Community
Much of the success of an urban retail project centers on aligning the retail development with its community. That means engaging with local residents and businesses early in the development process. These stakeholders understand the fiber of a neighborhood and what makes it unique or special. New urban retail should not seem forced, whether it is a “push” in design features, use or the specific products and services that are offered. Innovative design and attractive colors can be a plus, but trendy elements can doom the project. Urban retail development and, for that matter, residential, office and hotel development, must remain authentic and mindful of the very neighborhood of which it wants to be a part.
Adam J. Weiner is managing partner of Weiner Ventures, a real estate development and investment firm focused on large mixed-use projects throughout Boston. This column is courtesy of the Urban Land Institute.
