Our vision has been to design and build the highest-quality enclosed fashion mall that sets the standard for the industry, and certainly for the New York City area,” said Sam Shalem, chairman and CEO, Prestige Properties.
Amenities for the enclosed fashion mall include desirable food court options with expansive views of the surrounding retail.
When The Mall at Bay Plaza opens to the public in 2014, adjacent to the highly successful outdoor Bay Plaza Shopping Center, it will be heralded as the first enclosed fashion mall in the New York City area in nearly 40 years.
That’s big news. Particularly at a time when new development has taken a back seat to redevelopment of existing assets.
The owner of the Northeast Bronx 1.3-million-sq.-ft., 25-year-old Bay Plaza Shopping Center, Prestige Properties, isn’t cutting any corners on the $300+-million development project that will add a 780,000-sq.-ft., first-class, enclosed retail mall along with an 1,800-car parking garage. In fact, the New York-based company is pulling out all the stops, injecting luxury after luxury into the prized property.
“Our vision has been to design and build the highest-quality enclosed fashion mall that sets the standard for the industry, and certainly for the New York City area,” said Sam Shalem, chairman and CEO, Prestige Properties.
To do that, Shalem and his team sourced a world-class architect – Altoon Partners out of Los Angeles – and charged them with creating an iconic property comprised of timeless, classic and elegant elements and materials.
“We spared no expense,” said Shalem. “We are building something that we – and the community – will be proud of.” The trade area will be substantial, as consumers from the surrounding area – counties of The Bronx, Westchester and Manhattan – are projected to shop the state-of-the-art destination ideally situated at the crossroads of The Bronx and Westchester – specifically, on a corner parcel at the intersection of the Hutchinson River Parkway and Interstate 95 where a combined 250,000 cars pass a day.
Not surprisingly, the retail response has been huge. Macy’s will build a three-story, 160,000-sq.-ft. store – its first ground-up project in New York in 15 years – and join the existing J.C. Penney as a mall anchor. Current tenants of the existing Bay Plaza Shopping Center – some of the national chains’ highest-performing stores on a per-sq.-ft. basis – are expected to further ramp up results in the new iteration.
New retailers will join the property as well. “We’re bringing in major name brand and designer stores, ranging from fashion, accessories and home furnishings to restaurants, a health club, entertainment and a host of desirable amenities,” said Jerry Welkis, who along with Allen Cooperman of Welco Realty Inc., are leading leasing efforts on behalf of Prestige. “Leasing has been progressing exceptionally well.”
Given that the existing outdoor shopping center has been a retail mainstay for 25 years, it is expected that the new high-end enclosed sister property, new amenities, new anchor and new experience will serve only to energize the shopping environment and spur sales at the entire project.
“Retailers are buzzing about The Mall at Bay Plaza,” said Welkis. “And Prestige is giving them something worth talking about. In my opinion, this is THE project for 2014, bar none.”
For leasing information, contact Welco Realty Inc., 914-576-7500 :
Jerry Welkis, jwelkis@welcorealty.com
Allen Cooperman, allen.s.cooperman@gmail.com
James O’Brien, JOBrien@welcorealty.com
Slideshow: http://chainstoreage.com/slideshow/mall-bay-plaza-ny
EDGEWATER, NJ – HomeGoods, TJX Companies’ off-price home fashion retailer, is set to open its newest New Jersey location at Edgewater Harbor, announced Levin Management. The 24,000 sf store anchors the 100,000 sf retail component of this premier mixed-use development. Levin’s leasing representative Jake Frantzman negotiated the long-term lease. Jerry Welkis of Welco Realty represented HomeGoods in the transaction. “Redevelopment efforts spanning from Weehawken to Bayonne have really kicked into high gear, making the Gold Coast a magnet for residents as well as retailers,” said Frantzman. “Strong demographics, along with excellent visibility and access, make Edgewater Harbor the perfect location for HomeGoods as it continues expanding through-out the New Jersey market-place.” In addition: A March grand re-opening for the expanded Center for Allied Health & Nursing Education and a newly signed lease with Dollar Tree have kicked off 2013 at Capitol Plaza in Ewing. The recent activity follows several 2012 tenant openings and renewals at the 357,000 sf retail property.
Michael Cohen, Levin Management’s vice president of leasing, served as in-house representative for each transaction. Also, Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa has newly opened a 2,166 sf location at The Shoppes at North Brunswick in North Brunswick. Levin’s leasing representative Frantzman negotiated the long-term lease. Todd Sussman of Colliers International served as the tenant’s broker in the transaction.
The dense markets of northern and central New Jersey are showing some encouraging signs of momentum. Over the past 18 months, retailers have flocked to places like Paramus, Millburn, Wayne, Totowa, Springfield/Union, Livingston, East Hanover and Jersey City/Secaucus, to name a few. They are well aware that the major malls and retail corridors of Northern New Jersey, in particular, draw lots of traffic from nearby New York City. The pace of new construction has been sluggish in part because lenders now demand equity stakes of around 40 percent on projects that used to be financed at 70 or 80 percent. Therefore new supply is limited, which is helping to push up rents and drive down vacancies.
In the northern and central parts of the state, in fact, the vacancy rate now stands at about 10 percent—a big improvement over the 20 percent average of 2010. Paramus, the state’s top retail market, has seen quite a nice recovery. Here, rents of smaller stores of less than 3,000 square feet now range from $35 to $60 per square foot. At stores of 5,000 to 10,000 square feet, space is leasing for between $30 and $40 per square foot. Paramus’ medium boxes, which range in size from 20,000 to 30,000 square feet, are seeing healthy numbers but quite a bit more rental-rate variability (while deals of $11 or $12 are not unheard of, most of these midrange spaces lease for a respectable $20 to $30 per square foot). Ground rents for the largest spaces in the market—the 100,000-square-foot behemoths—typically run between $8 and $12 per square foot.
Expanding tenants include New York-based supermarket chain Fairway Supermarket; Connecticut-based supermarket chain Stew Leonard’s, which is mulling whether to bring its 65,000-square-foot concept into New Jersey; and a host of QSR chains, including Five Guys Burgers and Fries, Smashburger, Chipotle, Qdoba—you name it. Zinburger, which now has a bustling location in Clifton, is a good example of what these chains offer to those who are tired of fast food. Health clubs are another fast-growing category. Equinox, a higher end example charging up to $125 a month, as well as its smaller, lower-priced concept called Blink, has been very active in this market. Retro Fitness, Planet Fitness, and mid-tier mainstays like LA Fitness continue to expand as well.
Despite this growth, however, there are challenges. Competition from online retailing, for example, clearly is part of the reason Best Buy, Staples and B.J.’s Wholesale Club are shrinking their footprints around New Jersey. Known for its 20,000-square-foot prototype, Staples is even squeezing into spaces half this size. B.J.’s still operates cavernous boxes, but in select markets it is considering opening 65,000-square-foot stores.
It seems likely that rents, vacancies and property values will continue to improve into 2013. It will be interesting to watch what happens with newer projects like 99 Hudson Street in Jersey City, Bergen Town Center in Paramus and Xanadu Meadowlands in East Rutherford, which just made a deal with DreamWorks to be part of the project. The latter project, a 3 million-square-foot giant by Mall of America’s Triple Five Group, is slated to open in 2014. The aim is to energize the defunct Xanadu albatross by building a ski dome, skydiving simulator and various other amusement park-type amenities, along with a robust retail lineup. Other developers, including Hartz Mountain Industries, Vornado Realty Trust, Pagano Development Co., Gabrellian Associates, TREECO, Key Properties, Ciancia Organization and National Realty, are also poring over freshly drawn plans in the market.
While these New Jersey markets have yet to return to their prior peaks, newfound activity is leading a greater sense of optimism—and some real opportunities.
— Jerry Welkis is an X-Team International partner and president of New Rochelle, N.Y. based Welco Realty.