70 replies to this topic

[southslider]

kermit, on 27 January 2011 - 12:19 PM, said:

It really would be a huge lost opportunity for them to go to Southpark rather than uptown.

What if H&M went to a site on Elizabeth Avenue with parking in back?  I really don't think Southpark is as much of a competition with Uptown anymore, compared to Midtown.

Unfortunately, Uptown doesn't seem to have enough independent purchasing power to support walk-only retail, especially on evenings and weekends.  With lower land costs supporting conventional retail floor plans and parking, Midtown seems to be the happy medium.  Though just outside Uptown, Midtown is where "Center City" (read Uptown, plus first-ring neighborhoods) does have enough collective (and largely untapped) purchasing power within a short drive.  And hybrid designs like Metropolitan and Restaurant Row mix walkable storefront with shared or structured parking on cheaper Midtown land, serving both customers arriving by foot and vehicle.  Plus, Uptown residents may be less likely to get in their car, as many do now for even Metropolitan, once streetcar links Elizabeth Avenue.

[Urbanity]

A comment on the Observer for a city center retail story (linked a few messages ago) mentioned that Bloomingdales was originally slated to open a store in the Duke Tower before the recession changed its plans.  

Anyone heard of this?

[mallguy]

Urbanity, on 04 February 2011 - 04:31 AM, said:

A comment on the Observer for a city center retail story (linked a few messages ago) mentioned that Bloomingdales was originally slated to open a store in the Duke Tower before the recession changed its plans.  

Anyone heard of this?

No.  If a letter of intent had been signed or even negotiations had been underway for a store there, it would have been in the news.  It wasn't.  I remember that the Charlotte Business Journal reported that Neiman Marcus executives went to lunch with some retail real estate people in Charlotte before announcing the SouthPark store.

[DigitalSky]

Urbanity, on 04 February 2011 - 04:31 AM, said:

A comment on the Observer for a city center retail story (linked a few messages ago) mentioned that Bloomingdales was originally slated to open a store in the Duke Tower before the recession changed its plans.  

Anyone heard of this?

I knew about this.  If you saw some of the Wachovia/Duke tower renderings, Bloomingdale's was in some of the street level images.

[ricky_davis_fan_21]

DigitalSky, on 07 February 2011 - 09:27 AM, said:

I knew about this.  If you saw some of the Wachovia/Duke tower renderings, Bloomingdale's was in some of the street level images.

I also knew about this from a friend who works in the development biz that he had heard there was more than mild flirtation between the developer and Bloomingdales at one point.

[dbull75]

nibletodell, on 07 February 2011 - 10:02 AM, said:

I also knew about this from a friend who works in the development biz that he had heard there was more than mild flirtation between the developer and Bloomingdales at one point.

Damn you recession!

[mallguy]

DigitalSky, on 07 February 2011 - 09:27 AM, said:

I knew about this.  If you saw some of the Wachovia/Duke tower renderings, Bloomingdale's was in some of the street level images.

Looks like I was wrong then.  How did I miss this- are there any articles online that I missed?  What type of Bloomingdale's- a small one like the one in SoHo, NYC?

[Figursky]

What if the H&M opened under the Midtown Target?

Or does Target have some sort of agreement that says another clothing retailer cannot move in the building?

southslider, on 27 January 2011 - 01:20 PM, said:

What if H&M went to a site on Elizabeth Avenue with parking in back?  I really don't think Southpark is as much of a competition with Uptown anymore, compared to Midtown.

Unfortunately, Uptown doesn't seem to have enough independent purchasing power to support walk-only retail, especially on evenings and weekends.  With lower land costs supporting conventional retail floor plans and parking, Midtown seems to be the happy medium.  Though just outside Uptown, Midtown is where "Center City" (read Uptown, plus first-ring neighborhoods) does have enough collective (and largely untapped) purchasing power within a short drive.  And hybrid designs like Metropolitan and Restaurant Row mix walkable storefront with shared or structured parking on cheaper Midtown land, serving both customers arriving by foot and vehicle.  Plus, Uptown residents may be less likely to get in their car, as many do now for even Metropolitan, once streetcar links Elizabeth Avenue.

[DigitalSky]

The thing is a typical H&M is like 20,000 or 30,000 square feet, and the space below Target is 120,000 square feet so if H&M wanted to move in it would have to be subdivided and the problem with subdivsion is that half the stores would be masked by the parking deck and would have a complete lack of visibility.  There aren't a lot of stores that can simply fill 120,000 square feet... I bet they're holding out for a Kohl's, I don't know if a warehouse club wants to move in to that space at this point and like I said there aren't a lot of other big box retailers that can fill it.

[tozmervo]

As far as the drive for CC Retail goes, I'd say that space below Target is a low priority for getting filled. I think that Target has wildly exceeded the companies expectations for sales, and the traffic around the parking deck would back that up. (For those of you that don't frequent that store, it's currently undergoing a major renovation to include a full grocery with produce and whatnot.)

[Urbanity]

I decided to contact Bloomingdales directly regarding the discussion of a city center location..  I received a response from the Director of National Media Relations who stated that she was unaware of any Charlotte plans at this time.  She didn't comment on the previous plans though.