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CONSTRUCTION THREAD: Magnolia Park Town Center


g-man430

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There were plans for that (online at dmra.biz), but not sure what happened with that; the Parisian didn't do well, and once JB White became a Dillard's, that store had no future, and Montgomery Ward clearly was doomed with the problems with the chain, so perhaps investment funds to re-do the mall yet again after tons of money were invested in '95 just wouldn't flow. Too bad, as I liked those anchors, especially Parisian- a great store.

The mall was just doomed, and the dept. store consolidations in the 90s sealed the fate. Couldn't compete with Haywood. When the mall was re-done in '95, I've often wondered how a Macy's, which would have been new to the area, would have worked at the mall. Way before Federated merged the May/Fed. names to Macy's, of course. Augusta had one for years, along with a Rich's. It would have fit well with White's and Parisian...maybe in the place of Wards (however, they seemed to do well, given it was one of the last ones to close).

That Dillard's building was old and rather plain (it had been rennovated, though), and it had to be demolished for Costco, so that's no big deal...however, that Parisian was beautiful and it was such a shame to see it go, and so quickly. It sure was nicer than anything at Haywood ever was (and has been).

Edited by perrykat
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Back to Magnolia Park Town Center, I tend to be a positive person and am trying to remain hopeful about the development. But I can't help but wonder if we will ever see anything close to what they originally planned with the town center, 1-2 hotels, condos, and perhaps even office space. This is supposed to be a nice, higher-end development. And the location for such a development is perfect.

So leaving all of the rumor and hearsay behind, what do we currently KNOW about MPTC? I have:

-Costco (constructed a few years ago)

-Sports Authority (left over from Greenville Mall)

-Rooms to Go (currently under construction)

-Superplay USA (former Montgomery Ward building)

Anyone else have anything I am forgetting?

We are left with the planned/proposed portions of the development, such as the town center, new restaurants for our area (e.g., Maggiano's, Cheesecake Factory, etc.), hotel(s), potential office space, and potential condo space. I am having trouble seeing how nice condos, nicer retail offerings, and new restaurants for the area will be able to coincide with stuff like Rooms to Go and Superplay USA, but hey, if they can pull it off more power to 'em. I just have to wonder if the developers are looking at ways to bail on these nicer/more lifestyle-friendly aspects of the development as well.

Edited by Greenville
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Back to Magnolia Park Town Center, I tend to be a positive person and am trying to remain hopeful about the development. But I can't help but wonder if we will ever see anything close to what they originally planned with the town center, 1-2 hotels, condos, and perhaps even office space. This is supposed to be a nice, higher-end development. And the location for such a development is perfect.

So leaving all of the rumor and hearsay behind, what do we currently KNOW about MPTC? I have:

-Costco (constructed a few years ago)

-Sports Authority (left over from Greenville Mall)

-Rooms to Go (currently under construction)

-Superplay USA (former Montgomery Ward building)

Anyone else have anything I am forgetting?

We are left with the planned/proposed portions of the development, such as the town center, new restaurants for our area (e.g., Maggiano's, Cheesecake Factory, etc.), hotel(s), potential office space, and potential condo space. I am having trouble seeing how nice condos, nicer retail offerings, and new restaurants for the area will be able to coincide with stuff like Rooms to Go and Superplay USA, but hey, if they can pull it off more power to 'em. I just have to wonder if the developers are looking at ways to bail on these nicer/more lifestyle-friendly aspects of the development as well.

Bingo as regards the nicer stores.....what is happening, is that Magnolia is losing any hope of these with each one Haywood gains. Apple, possible Anthropologie, etc. In the end, this may be a good thing. A super solid, upscale Haywood vs.two centers fighting for better stores.

Side note, seeing all the mention of Parisian. As an ex excutive with Saks Inc. / Parisian in their corporate offices, it is funny now to hear people talk about Parisian as though it was high end. Parisian was a mid-tier store just like Macy's, only our marketing and PR was far better. Quite the compliment that we did our job well as regards image (at least for a time that is....had we really done our job well, the chain would still be in existence today). :(

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Magnolia Park will never be what it could have been in my opinion. Funny how Haywood Mall is able to land these high-end tenants but Menin couldn't for their project. The mall along with Crescent Place will take any of the nice tenants Magnolia Park could of had and for some reason i'm not disappointed at all in that. Woodruff Road already has enough crap and big box stores built along it. There is no question in my mind that Haywood Mall will continue to get more high-end and Crescent Place will get built before Magnolia Park.

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Magnolia Park will never be what it could have been in my opinion. Funny how Haywood Mall is able to land these high-end tenants but Menin couldn't for their project. The mall along with Crescent Place will take any of the nice tenants Magnolia Park could of had and for some reason i'm not disappointed at all in that. Woodruff Road already has enough crap and big box stores built along it. There is no question in my mind that Haywood Mall will continue to get more high-end and Crescent Place will get built before Magnolia Park.

I totally agree, I think the loss of Ruth Chris and Apple and the inability to land the high end tennants originally planned has led to some anchor tennant choices that will make it even harder to get the Maggiano's, CheeseCake Factory, and Anthropologie's out there to sign a lease. Woodruff is already stuffed anyway at this spot.

Now Crescent place, being so close to Haywood, that could be a win win. The two being so close to one another could help bring customers since its all in one spot. I'd be more likely to shop at haywood and grab a meal at Maggiano's, etc and vice versa than have to suffer through Woodruff Road. It seems like a better fit and Haywood Rd could use s little revitalization

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The Journal has an article on Magnolia Park online today. No real news though. Offices, retail and a hotel are the current plans. Residential is a POSSIBILITY however.

BTW, Apple is looking at Five Points in Columbia. It will totally suck that both Chas. and Cola have Apple stores in an urban setting and ours is in a enclosed mall.

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BTW, Apple is looking at Five Points in Columbia. It will totally suck that both Chas. and Cola have Apple stores in an urban setting and ours is in a enclosed mall.

Could be wrong, but I highly doubt they sign a lease there. The design of that tenant space is not even close to what Apple wants. They are very strict on design, size, and location of their retail stores. When was the last time you saw Apple locate in a small strip shopping center next to Walgreens? Oh and our Apple Store is going to be much larger than the Charleston one too. smile.gif

News article on Magnolia Park: http://www.journalwa...76-a-mall-story

“We remain committed to the project. I promise you this, we’re working every possible avenue and approach to getting it done,” he said.

Then why approve to put a reject Dave and Busters inside the old Montgomery Ward building instead of demolishing it to make way for your proposed mixed use development?

And Jacoby believes once the macro economy starts to turn around, interest from other national retailers will follow.

Apparently Haywood Mall didn't get the memo.

Edited by citylife
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BTW, Apple is looking at Five Points in Columbia. It will totally suck that both Chas. and Cola have Apple stores in an urban setting and ours is in a enclosed mal

I heard that the developer of the small strip in Columbia "got a person from Apple to come look at the space". Big difference than "Apple choosing to look at the city". Apple plans new stores and market entries 3 years out, so if this developer thinks Apple is just going to plop a store in there, he must be smoking something. :lol: Apple at Haywood is perfect, IMO as it cemments Haywood's position as the best mall in the state, as well as ensures the longevity of Haywood. Due to the location of Haywood, between downtown and the money of the Eastside/Golden Strip, the area should continue to turn more and more dense, urban, upscale.

Edited by gsupstate
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Apple at Haywood is perfect, IMO as it cemments Haywood's position as the best mall in the state, as well as ensures the longevity of Haywood. Due to the location of Haywood, between downtown and the money of the Eastside/Golden Strip, the area should continue to turn more and more dense, urban, upscale.

Totally agree. The other big malls in the larger cities in the state aren't really upscale (Columbiana, Northwoods, Citadel), so Apple wouldn't fit in those. Columbiana has some upscale stores but not nearly the amount Haywood does. It fits very well at Haywood and will help attract even more upscale tenants to the mall.

MPTC: 4 years in to this project, we have dirt, a Costco, Rooms to Go, tacky movie theater, empty Montgomery Ward, and a partially-demolished mall with a dumpy sporting goods store in a horrible location. Sorry, but I don't have much faith in this project. I think the stores like Anthropologie, etc. will look at Haywood instead (as has been rumored)....if the D&B's 'knockoff' in an old department store building is the next tenant, I think that tells where the project is going retail-wise. :wacko:

re: gsupstate and Parisian; perhaps Parisian felt so much more upscale due to the building it was in. That was a very elegant and beautiful store when compared to the Macy's at Haywood. IIRC, it had a large, open center with a scenic elevator? and open escalators. Marketing and image was much better. :good:

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Parisian WAS more upscale than typical mid-market store- see extracts below from Saks Incorporated and Proffitt's securities filings. Gsupstate, you think that the typical customer was so dumb that while you claim that there was not much difference between a Parisian and an average Macy's, the typical customer was just hypnotized to believe otherwise by Parisian's marketing department? No wonder the chain didn't last, with that kind of thinking. I worked for a law firm that handled the company's securities filings, and everything in them was validated to protect the company from liability for fraud- are you saying that the company didn't tell the truth?

Extracts:

SDSG [the non-Parisian, non-Saks stores in the family] stores attempt to consistently offer a wide selection of unique and limited distribution merchandise as well as competitively priced national brands. Key brands featured in the Company’s SDSG stores include Liz Claiborne, Susan Bristol, Sigrid Olsen, Polo/Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Nautica, Hart Schaffner & Marx, Estee Lauder, Clinique, Lancome, Chanel, Nine West, Enzo, Waterford, and Bali. In addition to the these brands, Parisian stores may carry brands such as Karen Kane, BCBG, Garfield & Marks, Tahari, Oakley, Robert Talbott, Tommy Bahama, Joseph Abboud, Hugo Boss, Bobbi Brown, Trish McEvoy, MAC, Donald Pliner, Stuart Weitzman, Kate Spade, Via Spiga, and Brighton, which are typically carried only at specialty stores. SDSG differentiates its offerings from its competitors through exclusive merchandise from its core vendors, assortments from unique and emerging suppliers, and proprietary brands.

The Company's primary merchandise focus is on upper-moderate to

better-priced nationally branded merchandise in the more traditional

department stores, a greater assortment of better-priced nationally

branded merchandise in the Parisian stores, a greater assortment of

luxury-priced and designer goods at Saks Fifth Avenue, and value-

priced merchandise in the Off 5th stores.

All of the Company's department stores, excluding the Parisian

stores, are considered traditional department stores, emphasizing

moderate to better prices. The Parisian stores are specialty

department stores and carry a more upscale and unique assortment

of merchandise than the traditional department stores, with

higher price points. Parisian stores do not carry home

furnishings.

Edited by mallguy
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To be honest, I never shopped at Rich's much when it was at Haywood, and never shop at Macy's, so I'm not too up on the quality of the merchandise there. Parisian has been gone so long (was not a huge shopper) I don't remember clearly, but they had some pretty high-end stuff. I would venture to say Parisian was more upscale than Macy's/Rich's at Haywood was around that time, however they have improved with the mall. Macy's/Rich's dealt in furniture, and as that article says, Parisian did not. It was more of a 'boutique' type department store (Parisian stores are typically smaller than a Belk, Macy's, etc; could be compared in size to Saks 5th or Neiman Marcus, perhaps, that's just my judgement), while a Macy's type is just a higher-end JCPenney in store type + furniture showroom.

I think of Parisian as more of a cross between Proffitt's and Saks; Proffitt's was more like a Belk, a significant downgrade from Parisian in the Saks chain. I never liked Proffitt's.

Edited by perrykat
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Macy's went through a major renovation at Haywood Mall recently and updated their clothing line to include companies such as Lucky, Ed Hardy, Tommy Bahama, Michael Kors, Tommy Hilfiger, BCBGeneration, etc. You can see a video of it here: http://www.greenvillehd.com/greenville-sc-shopping/macys/ It's much more nicer and high-end now than it was.

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Macy's went through a major renovation at Haywood Mall recently and updated their clothing line to include companies such as Lucky, Ed Hardy, Tommy Bahama, Michael Kors, Tommy Hilfiger, BCBGeneration, etc. You can see a video of it here: http://www.greenvillehd.com/greenville-sc-shopping/macys/ It's much more nicer and high-end now than it was.

Yeah, I've seen it. Gone is the greenish colors (I believe that store had that), art in the escalator wells, and parquet floors that was Rich's from the 80s. It took a lot of the May/Federated stores (Rich's, Hecht's, Foley's, etc) that transitioned to Macy's a while to get up to traditional Macy's standards. It's a nice store since the remodel, probably the nicest anchor at Haywood. Belk's store isn't bad either, they recently remodeled as well.

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If a lot of the proposed tenants for Magnolia Park end up going to the Uptown (Haywood) area, that would be fine with me. I am extremely excited about the master plan for that area, with the more urban design, improved streetscaping, design standards, etc. I really like the idea of Crescent Place being a big catalyst for this area. Maybe they can incorporate some of the urban aspects we all loved about The Point's proposal by McChesney. :thumbsup:

Woodruff Road can have the big box type stuff (which is fine, as every metro needs those stores) and let Uptown be the higher end/"Buckhead-esque" retail destination.

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I'd almost say that Augusta Road (between Church Street and Mauldin Road) is currently the "upscale" smaller shop retail corridor in Greenville. It is likely under-valued by most Greenville residents because it has no big box retailers to attract the common shopping crowd, yet it contains an impressive array of upper end small shops. Its main weakness, in my opinion, is the lack of a pedestrian-friendly street design. You can walk to every shop, but it is not easy or safe in many areas thanks to heavy auto traffic and numerous detached retail centers on both sides of the road.

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I'd almost say that Augusta Road (between Church Street and Mauldin Road) is currently the "upscale" smaller shop retail corridor in Greenville. It is likely under-valued by most Greenville residents because it has no big box retailers to attract the common shopping crowd, yet it contains an impressive array of upper end small shops. Its main weakness, in my opinion, is the lack of a pedestrian-friendly street design. You can walk to every shop, but it is not easy or safe in many areas thanks to heavy auto traffic and numerous detached retail centers on both sides of the road.

Augusta Road offers a different kind of upscale than Uptown does/will. Augusta has more local/boutique retailers, with only a handful of regional and national retailers. Uptown's niche will be featuring the national retailers, which is consistent with having the state's largest mall and (hopefully) a nice new town center next door.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I thought the building under construction at Magnolia Park was the new Rooms To Go, however WYFF reported the other night that it is actually Playland USA and it hoped to open this summer. What is it?

The building under construction currently is going to be Rooms To Go. I have the site plan for it. You can also look here for other proof: http://www.menindevelopment.com/news%20RTG%20Opening.html The old Montgomery Ward building will be home to Superplay USA. The media is not suprisingly once again lost and confused. blink.gif

Edited by citylife
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  • 1 month later...

I see in an OLD post that the following list were expected tenants at Magnolia Park. My how time changes things...

Apple

Cheesecake Factory

Sur La Table

Biaggis

California Pizza Kitchen

Camille's Sidewalk Cafe

Restoration Hardware

Bravo! Cucina Italiana

Chipotle

Ben & Jerry's

Maggianos

Z Gallerie

Tumi

Urban Outfitters

Anthropologie

Smith and Hawken

REI

Trader Joes

Lucky Brand

So Apple is in Haywood; Chipotle and Trader Joe's are across the street. Playland-USA and Bass Pro Shops are coming in.

Has anyone heard about any of the other stores listed above or possible additional firms interested in Magnolia Park?

... Anyone? Anyone? Beuller?

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I see in an OLD post that the following list were expected tenants at Magnolia Park. My how time changes things...

Apple

Cheesecake Factory

Sur La Table

Biaggis

California Pizza Kitchen

Camille's Sidewalk Cafe

Restoration Hardware

Bravo! Cucina Italiana

Chipotle

Ben & Jerry's

Maggianos

Z Gallerie

Tumi

Urban Outfitters

Anthropologie

Smith and Hawken

REI

Trader Joes

Lucky Brand

So Apple is in Haywood; Chipotle and Trader Joe's are across the street. Playland-USA and Bass Pro Shops are coming in.

Has anyone heard about any of the other stores listed above or possible additional firms interested in Magnolia Park?

... Anyone? Anyone? Beuller?

A few more on that list.

Camille's Sidewalk Cafe opened downtown.

Anthropologie is actively working with Haywood.

REI is still looking at the market.

Don't expect to see Z Gallerie or Restoration Hardware anywhere. These two chains are doing poorly and shrinking (closing stores).

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A few more on that list.

Camille's Sidewalk Cafe opened downtown.

Anthropologie is actively working with Haywood.

REI is still looking at the market.

Don't expect to see Z Gallerie or Restoration Hardware anywhere. These two chains are doing poorly and shrinking (closing stores).

I read an article recently which stated that Restoration Hardware has always been in the red. No profit, ever. :scared:

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