bhamsly, on May 13 2007, 02:49 AM, said:
Am I correct, The Summit is going to do a Phase 5, right? If they do, what are some retailers that would do well in the Birmingham area? I saw on The Summit's store directory a section called "Future" and it looks as if it can support about 7-10 stores
http://www.thesummit...reDirectory.pdf. I personally think some of these unique stores would be awesome such as Lacoste(I am not rich but I love their shirts),Guess(my favorite),Gucci (even if just a luggage store) Ralph Lauren, L'Occitane, Solstice, Lindt Chocolate, and Steve Madden or Cole Haan. I am suprised that Birmingham doen't have stores(that many other cities have) like L'Occitane, Guess, Cole Haan, etc. I have made a few proposals--Riverchase Galleria needs to either turn the old McRaes into Dillard's or Nordstroms, or either tear it down and make a new 2 level wing to accomodate new stores new to the area. I wish Century Plaza could get their act together and help the other malls lure more of the same and new retailers to the area. I honestly thought that The Pinnacle at Tutwiler Farms was going to be something a little larger with stores new to the area, but it is still a nice center. There is no room for Brookwood Village Mall to expand unless they were to do like some other malls and build an additional wing on the other side of Macy's. Birmingham has enough malls that could be expanded and redeveloped; they should not build anymore malls until the current malls have reached their potential and until the market demands it, although Downtown Birmingham could use some retail or some near Forest Park/Highland/UAB/Southside.
The Summit does have a proposal for another phase, but it is up in the air if it will be retail, office, hotel, or mixed-use. Bayer Properties, the center's owner, wanted to continue to weed out the mainstream 'every major retail center' tenants. Their long term plans does include more upscale and flagship-like locations for more upper end retailers (see Eddie Bauer Summit store for example).
Brookwood will likely continue to go upper-end also, but I think their on-going issue is going to be the Belk there. Colonial also has plans to keep the center as one of the few retail centers after it finish divest on it other properties. This will allow them to focus on these plans. Riverchase, I dunno. They should open a Dillard's or Nordstrom, but Nordstrom is still acting skiddish on opening here for whatever reason. Dillard's, to my knowledge, still in has to comply with its non-compete it has with Macy's in this market. However, who knows, they might decide to forth it or break and finally open a store in the market.
convulso, on May 13 2007, 04:58 AM, said:
downtown won't get retail on a large scale until it gets a substantial population with disposable income. i want to see that happen. i think, over time (much time), it will.
right now, it seems that all the people who want to live downtown - people who would spend their money at potential downtown grocery stores and clothiers, etc. - are too poor to afford the cost of living there. i am certainly among that number. i can afford to live in an apartment somewhere in the highland avenue area (and have done so in the past and loved it), but the cost of rents / mortgages downtown puts that area out of my range.
i wish bham had a 'warehouse district' somewhere near downtown, as so many other cities have, that affords weirdos and beatniks and dorks like me the chance to live very close to the DT without paying condo prices. if such an area exists in bham, i'm not aware of it. that's why places like highland ave. and glen iris have always appealed to me - they're the next best thing.
Well convulso, there is Park Place. It is on the eastern edge of Downtown, and it is fair price. On the retail, with the number of new residents increasing annually, if they continue to build it then retailers are bound to come. We'll likely wind up with some like Peabody Place in Memphis or Fourth Street Live! in Louisville downtown for retail/entertainment.
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