I am trying to gather information about successful lifestyle / town center developments. I am getting at the concept of outdoor mall areas with mixed uses - retail, restaurant, office, residential, etc.
We of course have one of the most successful centers in Ohio - Easton Town Center.
I wanted to see if we could get a list going for any centers that you consider successful. Please explain what you think is successful about it.
I look forward to the Throbbing Brians additions...
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Some off the top of my head right now...
First and Main in Hudson, OH - A nice extension of the existing pedestrian scaled downtown
The Village of Rochester Hills - Rochester Hills, MI - The redevelopment of a 1980s enclosed mall (though with no real mix of uses; ie retail, office, residential)
The Glen Town Center - Glenview, IL - The "pedestrian" oriented center of a former military base redevelopment
I'm sorry. Is my bias showing?
The Mall is what every jurisdiction along the 460 corridor in Virginia is trying to have. I saw LCD Soundsystem and Arcade Fire at the Pavilion so I have very fond memories.
As for the First and Main chain, hopefully the one in Blacksburg will get better. Right now that thing is very underutilized. A perfect case study on how developers can horribly overestimate market demand and underestimate the political impact of their development plans within the community.
Question, are there any great examples of these types of developments that incorporate a Walmart as the main anchor?
Some from around me:
Fort Langley, BC has a nice pedestrian shopping street, it's a mix of legitimate heritage buildings and new construction done in the same style. It is a very popular area for residents in the surrounding neighbourhoods.
Whistler, BC has a very nice outdoor centre, with a road called "Village Stroll" that is completely pedestrianised. The whole village area was completely built from scratch in the 70s.
South Surrey, BC has had many new developments popping up very recently such as the High Street - a mixed use area with only independent businesses permitted on the retail level. The Shops at Morgan Crossing is also a very pleasant outdoor mall. It's too early to say whether this has been a success or not, but it seems to be a step in the right direction.
As for places outside of BC that I have been to - there is Bellevue, WA which used to be just a Seattle suburb, but now is a very pleasant city - very walkable, nice town centre. Some of the other Seattle suburb towns such as Kirkland and Redmond are also supposed to be nice but I have yet to check them out.
Boulder, CO also has a magnificent outdoor mall called Pearl Street Mall - again this is quite a recent redevelopment of what was a decaying downtown prior to this.
I've not seen any that are particularly pedestrian friendly - perhaps if Walmart makes more of those "Walmart Express" stores eventually we will start to see those incorporated into outdoor pedestrian centres.Originally posted by jwhitty
Last edited by CanadaJimmy; 31 Jul 2013 at 4:03 PM.
Not a Walmart, but a large grocery store called HEB Central Market 'anchors' Southlake Town Center in the Dallas/Ft Worth area and The Triangle in Austin. They are not integrated into the developments, but rather sit just across the street from them.
HEB Central Market is 'upscale'. I'm not sure you'll ever see a really good example of a Walmart integrated into a lifestyle center due to Walmart's demographic target. The only one that comes close with a Walmart is probably City Place in Long Beach, and I'm more inclined to call that urban infill since I think it was redevelopment of one of those indoor downtown shopping mall messes of the 1960s. I don't think that project has residential integrated in a mixed use environment, but it is surrounded by such an environment.
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I saw one called "The Domain" in Austin that was huge and seemed to be doing pretty well. There are some successful examples in the Phoenix area, as well. Scottsdale Quarter and Kierland Commons come to mind. Desert Ridge Marketplace and SanTan Village are a couple other examples.
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Town Center in the Woodlands:
http://www.thewoodlandscvb.com/pages...7/Default.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Woodlands,_Texas
Not sure I would agree with The Woodlands. I would definitely add Bel Mar in Lakewood, CO (Denver suburb), which is a redevelopment of a former enclosed mall.
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I don't know if it meets your criteria but take a look at Bridgeport Village in Tigard/Tualatin, OT: http://www.bridgeport-village.com/
Also, consider the Village at Shirlington in Arlington, VA. It is a super place, and includes living spaces as well as retail and food. http://villageatshirlington.com/
I have an old list from Nevada. Most are still there. Some are more traditional; some are very tourist-oriented. Pedestrian-oriented? Sort of – Many of these centers you would have to drive a car to reach and then transform into "the pedestrian." The Strip and Downtown are actually highly pedestrian-oriented and are well-served by transit. Outside of those, Green Valley in Henderson is probably the most pedestrian-oriented.
ENCLOSED MALLS (traditional)
Boulevard Mall – boulevardmall.com
Fashion Show Mall – www.thefashionshow.com
Galleria at Sunset Mall – www.galleriaatsunset.com
Meadows Mall – www.meadowsmall.com
ENCLOSED MALLS (specialty/tourist)
Desert Passage at the Aladdin – www.desertpassage.com
Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace – www.harrahs.com/
Grand Canal Shops at the Venetian – www.grandcanalshoppes.com/
Mc Carran Airport Shops – www.mccarran.com/Relax/Shopping.aspx
World Market Center– www.lasvegasmarket.com (furniture expo center)
OPEN-AIR MALLS
Fremont Street Experience – www.vegasexperience.com
Las Vegas Premium Outlets – www.lasvegaspremiumoutlets.com
Neonopolis – neonopolislv.com/
CAMPUS-PLAZAS
Boca Park (AKA Peccole Ranch Town Center) – no web site
Centennial Center – web site gone (probably an economy thing)
Green Valley Town Center – www.americannevada.com
The Shops at Green Valley Ranch – shopthedistrictgvr.comIN THE RENO/SPARKS AREA:
- The last two are now called “The District” as far as I can tell.
Outlets at Legends – www.outletsatlegends.com
Summit Center – http://www.thesummitonline.com/Victorian Square – http://www.cityofsparks.us/business/...ctorian-square
- There are also versions of Summit Center in Louisville and Birmingham
Mizner Park (Boca Ration) and CityPlace (West Palm Beach) for a couple of good FL projects.
imho The most enjoyable and most successful lifestyle/town center developments in NYC are the ones that started and grew with "the people" over a period of many decades, and in some cases, centuries.
The public planners have done everything from "tweeking" to mega-million$ renovationing to keep these "home grown" developments up to modern-day standards.
How come?
From what the OP wants: "I am getting at the concept of outdoor mall areas with mixed uses - retail, restaurant, office, residential, etc," Town Center's got all of that.
Every reasonably prosperous town centre built before cars became common.
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The 2000s saw the construction of many lifestyle centers in the Chicagoland area. However, the largest and most successful ones tend to be the ones that are almost exclusively retail:
Deer Park Town Center (Deer Park, IL)
Algonquin Commons (Algonquin, IL)
Geneva Commons (Geneva, IL)
Promenade (Bolingbrook, IL)
While the Glen Town Center in Glenview is more of a true "town center" or "lifestyle center" in that it is more mixed-use, with a significant residential component, the commercial components seem very lacking IMO and leave something to be desired. The whole development also seems overly fake and contrived.
The best true "town centers" in Chicagoland that I can think of are actually a select few suburban downtowns oriented around commuter rail stations in the north, northwest, and western suburbs, or in some cases, oriented around riverfronts. Some are better than others. Naperville is probably the largest and best. It has managed to incorporate an incredible amount of national chains with its many small local businesses. It's also hard to beat the following things it has going for it: one of the best riverwalks, one of the busiest suburban train stations (also a major Amtrak stop), a liberal arts college, a large amount of bars and good nightlife scene, a large amount of downtown offices, a large hospital, museums, city hall & the library, a significant daytime population, proximity to an interstate and many job centers located along it, an incredible amount of wealth, and one of the largest concentrations of housewives. It could probably use more high-density residential though, IMO.
Last edited by illinoisplanner; 07 Aug 2013 at 12:49 PM.
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