 |
    |
|
 |
 |
SALE OF MALL IS FINAL AT LAST,
RENOVATION WILL TAKE A YEAR
August 6, 2001
The big news around Lakewood these days surrounds the fate of the Lakewood Mall complex now that it has officially changed ownership and redevelopment is in the air.
The mall sale was finally concluded June 29 after two years of due diligence. De-malling the property in the center of the city will start next week, with portions of the enclosed mall structure being closed altogether. Officials say demolition and redevelopment of the property itself will start in September if all goes as planned.
The new owners, MBK Northwest, bought the parcel from Wells Fargo for an undisclosed amount. Redevelopment will include essentially a reorientation of anchor stores from the inside corridor of the mall and turning the emphasis to outside entrances.
The mall complex includes a row of strip retail shops along the edges of the property with a central mall in the middle. Strip stores will be refaced, but the primary focus will be changing the layout of the 11-year-old central mall building, which has suffered from vacancies and low shopper activity since shortly after it opened.
The shopping center has struggled because of its limited visibility and access from Interstate-5. At the moment, the mall has more vacancies than occupied shops because mall management has not been renewing leases or accepting new tenants in anticipation of the renewal project.
"It wasn't from a lack of interest in going in there," City Manager Scott Rohlfs says. "It's an effort to not tie things up."
Most of the major tenants-Target, Barnes and Noble, Gottschalks and a 15-screen movie theater-will stay. But the large Mervyns site, the huge vacant spaces that used to hold merchandise for Lamonts and Emporium, and the small retail spaces along the interior mall will be demolished during the redevelopment.
"If you look at the real revenue makers," says Rohlfs, "they are all staying."
They will be joined by GI Joe's and Old Navy, which already have signed leases in the new complex.
Redevelopment should take less than a year, which means the mall should reopen next June.
New owners, the Irvine, Calif.-based MBK Northwest, a subsidiary of MBK Real Estate Ltd., has a history of aggressively redeveloping troubled malls. It is the U.S. real estate development arm of Mitsui and Co. Ltd., and its Puget Sound holdings include Parkway Super Center in Tukwila and SeaTac Village in Federal Way.
City and MBK officials feel the revitalized Lakewood Mall will have a town center feel with grassy areas and city services at a new City Hall, which is already under construction on the southern edge of the property. The $9.8 million City Hall project remains on budget and on schedule, which calls for it to open in October.
Merritt+Pardini Architects designed the Northwest styled building. Absher Construction is general contractor, with Chapman Mechanical and Totem Electric primary subcontractors. The building will house Safe Streets, Lakewood Municipal Court, the City's permitting office and its other customer-service functions. Its location on the mall property is meant to spark development of the city's downtown around the mall.
Lakewood acquired the property when the Mall's former owner sold it the land for $10 and associated redevelopment costs as an incentive to create a town center complex. The City has been operated out of rental offices across the street from the mall for the last few years. It had utilized another rental office location before that.
The young city, whose population totals 63,000 by latest count, has been aggressive in zoning changes aimed at controlling growth and development, while discouraging urban sprawl. The city's redevelopment plan for downtown and other commercial areas continues to work its way through committees and public hearings. The city held a number of public meetings on the plan over the past several months with the next one to be a public hearing before the City Council on Aug. 6. The Council is scheduled to vote on the package Aug. 20.
New land-use codes include 23 designations, six times the number the area had before it incorporated in 1996.
"The codes are designed to incorporate what is already there," Communications Director Candice Bock says.
A potential site for a Wal-Mart in Lakewood must file its plans soon or face these tougher design standards. The city expanded its list of zoning districts to group specific future business and residential types into separate areas, while acknowledging the existing uses. The varied zones also designate buffers between uses and individual neighborhood characteristics. Most of the established residential area around the city's four major lakes will remain unchanged, while areas around I-5 and east of the downtown core will undergo redevelopment for more commercial uses.
About 120-acres of American Lake Gardens, along Lakewood's eastern edge, for another example, will be rezoned for light industrial uses. Another such area is the International District along South Tacoma Way, which is largely occupied by Korean-owned businesses. Some business leaders wish to formally name the strip of grocery stores, clothing shops and hair salons Korean Town to help the area businesses market themselves as a destination spot. The issue is under review, pending the outcome of an area-wide survey.
Records on the 2000 U.S. Census web site list Pierce County as having the 42nd largest concentration of Asian Americans in the nation with 48,166 such residents.
Rezoning, redeveloping and identity searching are all on Lakewood's things-to-do list in the years ahead as it grows from a new city to an established one.
It's deja vu for Lakewood Chamber of Commerce Director Linda Smith, who saw the redevelopment effort start in Tacoma when she worked for that city's chamber decades ago.
"Tacoma struggled forever with the same issues we're facing in Lakewood," she says. "They're the same issues Tacoma was facing 25 years ago. "
Before the highly successful "America's #1 Wired City" campaign took hold, Tacoma tried redeveloping its downtown several times with limited success, she says.
"It was a very long and painful process, And Tacoma isn't done. They are still going through it," Smith says, adding that she expects Lakewood's to be just as painful, but ultimately successful. "There's no where to go but up for Lakewood. There's a lot of groundwork being laid right now."
The redevelopment of the mall, new zoning of commercial areas, a light rail link to Tacoma that is supposed to be opening in 2003 and a potential theme park as well as a booming warehouse complex at the 170-acre Lakewood Industrial Park are setting the stage for a construction explosion in coming years. But it will take time. Businesses and residents will just have to be patient as Lakewood defines itself and builds from that identity.
"This isn't McLakewood," she says. "Everyone wants change immediately. They want it now. That's not how it works. It takes time."
Business Examiner, by Steve Dunkelberger
|
|
|
