Urban Dedication
Related Urban has a dedication to upscale urban properties. With several mixed-use projects underway, the company is looking to create opportunities in dense markets.
Randall Shearin

With a dedication to creating urban retail destinations in prime markets, Related Urban is focused like few other developers. The company first made a name for itself developing CityPlace in West Palm Beach, Florida, and followed up by developing the retail for Time Warner Center. With sales per square foot greater than $1,500, Time Warner Center has every upscale retailer’s attention. But there’s good news: Related Urban has several new projects underway across the country that bring new meaning to urban mixed-use.

Shopping Center Business recently spoke with Webber Hudson, executive vice president of New York City-based Related Urban, to find out what the company is developing over the next 18 months.

CityNorth is a project Related Urban is developing with Thomas J. Klutznick Co. in Scottsdale, Arizona, that will contain 293,000 square feet of retail in its first phase.

Related Urban, in conjunction with Chicago-based Thomas J. Klutznick Co., is under construction with Phase I of CityNorth, a mixed-use development in Scottsdale, Arizona. The project broke ground in November 2006 and will open its first phase in fall 2008. The first phase, High Street, will contain 293,000 square feet of lifestyle retail and restaurants. The project also has significant residential and office components. Phase II, The Boulevard, will provide approximately 2.5 million square feet of department store space, restaurants, luxury retailers and elegant residences, will follow in November 2009. Nordstrom, the luxury department store, will open as part of Phase II. With 80 percent of the retail space already committed to retailers like Nordstrom and restaurants like Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, Il Fornaio, Daily Grill and Kona Grill, Hudson expects there to be no vacancy at opening.

“The story we are excited about with CityNorth is not only that it is out of the ground and that it is coming to fruition, but we’ve had this incredible buy in of 80 percent 1 year before opening,” says Hudson. “That says a lot when you look at the competitive environment that exists in the Phoenix market.”

At complete build-out, anticipated in 2011, City North will have 1.25 million square feet of retail, along with significant office and residential uses. The entire project will be about 5.5 million square feet.

Related Urban is developing Grand Avenue, a three-block project anchored by a Mandarin Oriental Hotel and upscale retail in downtown Los Angeles.

Related Urban is also taking a significant stake in the revitalization of downtown Los Angeles with its Grand Avenue project in the heart of the city’s cultural district. Adjacent to the new Walt Disney Concert Hall and Music Center complex, Grand Avenue is using architecture by Frank Gehry to create a high-end mixed-use environment. With over 400,000 square feet of high-end boutiques, restaurants, a luxury hotel component and 16-acre civic park, the project will be a first for downtown Los Angeles.

Related Urban is developing the 3.6 million-square-foot project on 9 acres across three city blocks in three phases. The first phase will break ground during the first quarter of 2008 and will consist of 250,000 square feet of retail and dining. Hudson expects the tenant mix to include a health club and gourmet market. The Mandarin Oriental Hotel has agreed to anchor the project, and similar to Time Warner Center, luxury residences will be above the hotel. A separate residential building will also house 500 luxury condominiums.

Related has been working several approaches for the retail of the Grand Avenue project.

“We’ve been very pleased to see a high degree of enthusiasm from the luxury market,” says Hudson. “With the Mandarin having entered an agreement to anchor the project, as well as the general rebirth of downtown Los Angeles, it is a market luxury retailers are looking to enter. It is a logical third leg for them after Beverly Hills and Orange County.”

In addition to a burgeoning population downtown — downtown’s population has grown 21 percent since 2004 — the city’s best downtown Class A office space is all on Grand Avenue. California Plaza, Wells Fargo Center and The Library Tower are all within walking distance to the project. Tourism numbers are also gaining speed.

Grand Avenue will be developed similar to Time Warner Center, says Hudson. There will be a multi-level retail promenade, but Grand Avenue’s promenade will be open-air, taking advantage of the climate and the views. As a result, landscaping will also be a big feature of the project.

CityPlace, the project that started it all for Related Urban, has seen a lot of new retailers open during 2007. The project is located in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Another place that Related Urban has focused its energy lately is on CityPlace, the original project that put the company on the radar. Related has launched a new merchandising strategy at the center to locate some nationally branded fashion retailers there. Overall, Related has turned over 150,000 square feet of leases at CityPlace in the last year.

“We’re moving away from our dependence on the local independent retailer that was a great idea, but in reality the marketplace demands the national brands,” says Hudson. “Doing so has allowed us to freshen the inventory and continue to push more traffic to the project.”

Related has signed leases at CityPlace with Sephora, Lucky Brand Jeans, Tommy Bahama, Sigrid Olsen, PacSun  and Quicksilver, among others. New restaurants locating at the center include Ruth’s Chris, Panera Bread, Kona Grill and Bar Louie.

“Rather than relying on local restaurants as well, we’ve gone after well capitalized branded names that visitors and residents alike gravitate towards,” says Hudson.

Inside Time Warner Center.

Related’s Time Warner Center, located at Columbus Circle in New York City, is continuing to see change as well.

“Time Warner Center continues to define itself,” says Hudson. “We are well north of $1,500 per square foot in sales and we continue to see double digit increases every month since we began comp sales. The food and beverage operations continue to drive traffic at all times of the day. No project that we are doing can be successful without the investments in the food and beverage area. It is the new anchor.”

While many in New York City know about restaurants like Per Se and Masa, which have been located at Time Warner Center since its opening, they are now returning to new favorites like Porter House and Landmarc. Even casual offerings like Bouchon Bakery and Whole Foods never have a dull moment.

“Time Warner Center is not a mall in Manhattan,” says Hudson. “We’ve just taken the street and run it vertically. The city has embraced it.”

Time Warner Center in New York City continues to build on its reputation as one of the top spots for retail and restaurant space in the city.

Related Urban has pruned some tenants from Time Warner Center since its opening. Wolford recently opened at the center, and Hudson’s team is working to extricate a few other tenants after the holidays in order to land more productive tenants.

As part of Related Companies, Related Urban also participates in large-scale developments from other divisions of the entity. Currently, the company is consulting with Related Westpac on the redevelopment of the Snowmass Village resort in Colorado. The 2 million-square-foot redevelopment of Snowmass Village will include some retail opportunities that Related Urban is leasing for the joint venture.

Related Urban has its eye on about six projects which have not yet been announced, says Hudson. The company is looking for opportunities that have very high density and income.

“No two Related projects are identical, whether it is our residential portfolio or our mixed-use portfolio,” says Hudson. “We are very committed to developing projects that are specific to their place and specific to the market opportunities that exist.”