Designing Quality
Retail design has changed over the last decade. Shoppers are demanding more from retailers, and retailers are demanding nice places to serve their customers. As a result, municipalities and developers are hiring designers to create one-of-a-kind projects that add to their environments.
Randall Shearin

Development Design Group is performing design work for The Peterson Companies’ National Harbor project in Washington, D.C. Rendering courtesy of Development Design Group.

Retail architecture has seen a lot of change over the last 10 years. Design and character of retail properties, as well as quality of materials used in their construction, have changed for the better because tenants are demanding nicer places to house their stores. Shopping Center Business recently spoke to more than 15 architects to see how retail design is changing.

Among the overall trends mentioned by the architects SCB interviewed, the quality of the projects, the addition of mixed-use, lifestyle and hybrid style projects to their portfolios, and the trend of green or LEED-certified design and construction were the most mentioned.

Big Changes

Architects cited a return to urban living and design philosophies as the biggest overall trend in retail design. Many included lifestyle centers, with their main street and community hub approaches to design, as part of this trend.

Omniplan and The Jerde Partnership are working on the redevelopment plan for Santa Monica Place in Santa Monica, California, for The Macerich Company. Rendering courtesy of The Jerde Partnership.

“Lifestyle centers are an attempt to recreate the town square or main streets that consumers nostalgically are looking for,” says John R. Clifford, principal of GreenbergFarrow. “Even mixed-use developments are turning outward rather than inward to integrate into and anchor the surrounding neighborhoods. The fact that many of these developments either include or are adjacent to significant residential components further shows the sense of urban neighborhood that is affecting design.”

“Projects that don’t just turn inward but engage the surrounding community and provide public amenities are showing that retail can play an urban design role in a community,” adds Tipton Housewright, principal of Omniplan.

While urban influence is big on architects, most were quick to note that a lot of the urban-style developments are taking place in suburban areas. Consumers and municipalities are driving this change.

CMH Architects is designing Juban Crossing near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for Jim Wilson & Associates. Rendering courtesy of CMH Architects.

“Municipalities have forced the hand of the retail developers to provide high density mixed-use with not only shopping, but living and working space,” says Leo Mendez, principal, retail market sector, for DFD CornoyerHedrick.

Driving the flight to quality of retail developments across the nation is an overlying trend of retail becoming a major economic driver in the United States. Communities no longer want cookie-cutter centers, even if they are big box retail centers or grocery-anchored centers.

“Retail is probably one of the three economic forces driving the country,” says Rick Gaylord, chairman with MCG Architecture. “This recognition and the environment that it creates for the shopper makes the retail center the focus of communities. It’s shifting so that instead of the city hall or the church or the library, retail centers are now the focal point of communities.”

Changes in Regional Centers

TVS is working on the expansion of Mall Plaza Norte in Santiago, Chile, that includes retail and office space, a library, a museum, restaurants and a hyper market. Photo courtesy of Brian Gassel, TVS.

One of the biggest changes of the last 10 years has been the shift of the regional center from an enclosed environment to an open-air environment. Only a handful of enclosed centers have been built since 2000; only one traditional enclosed center opened in 2006 and of the 10 new regional centers set to open in 2007, all will be open-air.

“The greatest thing about lifestyle centers is that they are giving us a better understanding about what was missing in enclosed malls,” says Richard Foy, founder and co-chairman of Communication Arts. “We’ve outgrown the social, cultural and technological messages that the malls are sending. The public spaces were sending the message that you were there to shop. The public was never given factors like comfort and care. The lifestyle center says, ‘this is public space. Spend as much time here as you like.’ It is a more real context for shopping that engages people at many levels.”

Even architects who are performing renovations on regional malls report that a lot of the activity involves restaurants, entertainment and lifestyle additions to the properties.

Communication Arts performed the design functions for Southlands in Aurora, Colorado. Photo courtesy of Communication Arts.

“When the mall expands it is typically with an outdoor component of some sort,” says Angelo Carusi, principal of Cooper Carry.

RTKL is working with Macerich to create a master plan for Tysons Corner Center in Virginia that will place the mall at the heart of a mixed-use neighborhood with residential, office and hotel uses with walkable streets, parks and plazas.

“Retail can be knitted into a mix of residential, office, hotel, and civic uses so that it does not act as an island development without regard for its surroundings and instead functions as the urban center of a new community,” says Jeff Gunning, vice president of RTKL.

The new open-air format of today’s regional center does borrow elements from yesterday’s mall. Some use a dumbbell design, while others face inward. Among the new regional centers currently in progress is Cooper Carry’s design for Forest City Enterprises of The Shops at Wiregrass, a 750,000-square-foot open air center in North Tampa that has three department store size anchors.

Communication Arts handled the design for Boulder Mall in Boulder, Colorado. Photo courtesy of Communication Arts.

Architects who concentrate their practices in densely populated areas — like the Northeast and Southern California — are seeing a lot of multi-level structures being developed. Retailers like Target are using multi-level stores to reach consumers in these areas. Infill areas are especially popular for this type of center.

“The infill sites have become more complex,” says Jack Selman, partner at Architects Orange. “Finding a site where mixed-use works can’t happen everywhere.”

At the regional mall, meanwhile, change is also underway. The regional mall is still an incredibly viable format. However, the consolidation of the department stores are causing a significant shift in the dynamic of the regional mall. As a result, major inline retailers and restaurants have really emerged as the anchors of the centers.

Arrowstreet is working on the design of Patriot Place, a mixed-use project adjacent to Gillette Stadium near Boston. Rendering courtesy of Arrowstreet.

“The stores that were successful at the mall became more the reason to go to shop,” says Todd Stoutenborough, principal of Perkowitz + Ruth. “Talbot’s, Apple, Crate & Barrel are stores that started as little stores and now stand on their own. We’re working with these retailers to make their building not a storefront, but their own kind of building. They look like they are on their own. You have to work with their individual identities and architecture to create an environment that is fun.”

Architects credit large developers like Westfield, General Growth and others for embracing the open-air format while standing by the mall. With the addition of open-air lifestyle wings to existing regional centers when they undergo renovation, big developers are bringing the mall to the next level. By offering their customers the best of both worlds, they are upgrading their centers, providing a lifestyle component that serves the area’s needs and fending off potential competition from true lifestyle centers.

CMH Architects is designing Cahaba Village in Birmingham, Alabama, for Bayer Properties, Inc. Rendering courtesy of CMH Architects.

“Most of the enclosed mall renovations we are doing today have a significant portion involved with turning stores out or adding external retailers and restaurants to the center, oftentimes as a replacement for a former department store or anchor pad location,” says Darrell Pattison, director of design and chief strategic officer of KA Architecture. “Hybridization is the most sincere form of flattery. It’s also a pretty good defensive technique.”

The evolution of hybrid open-air centers, such as a power center mixed with a lifestyle center, is another large trend that architects are seeing more of.

CMH Architects is designing Colonial Pinnacle at Craft Farms in Gulf Shores, Alabama, for Colonial Properties Trust. Rendering courtesy of CMH Architects.

“Now everything is becoming one and the big boxes are sitting next to or are incorporated into a lifestyle/entertainment type center where you can go from Macy’s to a fast food restaurant in the same complex,” says Gaylord. “Those centers also reflect the lifestyle of that particular community, in terms of both themed elements as well as services provided, again becoming the community focal point.”

Architects also credit developers with being more involved in the design process. Many design teams now include representatives from leasing and marketing departments of developers.

Perkowitz + Ruth designed The Lakes at Thousand Oaks in Thousand Oaks, California, for Caruso Affiliated. The 50,000-square-foot project opened in 2005. Photo courtesy of Perkowitz + Ruth Architects.

“The best, most successful, smoothest running project is one where you have regular team meetings with the leasing people, the brokers, the tenant representatives, the contractor and even sometimes the people providing the financing on the project,” says Gaylord.

“Everything continues to be leasing driven,” adds Carusi. “We have to remain open minded to their needs.”

Theming Vs. Authenticity

Every architect we spoke to agreed that theming as we wrote about it in the late 1990s — the Disneyesque themed entertainment centers mostly — are out of fashion. What’s in instead is authenticity and quality. Developers who are building town center and lifestyle developments are looking to build a lasting landmark in the community. Naturally, they’re looking for elements of that community to add to their centers.

“We always look to the local area to find an indigenous ‘hook’ for the project,” says Pattison of KA Architecture. “If successful, these projects will then have something unique to them which the locals will recognize and appreciate, and help them to adopt the center as their own.”

KA Inc. is working on the design of The Shops at Fallen Timbers for General Growth Properties in Maumee, Ohio. Rendering courtesy of KA Inc.

The theming that does exist today exists in large part to give an assumption of place, say many architects. The theming is local — such as the tropical beachgoing vibe of Destin Commons in Destin, Florida, or the main street movie set feeling of The Grove in Los Angeles. The themes are not obvious to either of these centers, but they are subtle.

“Theming works in places like The Grove, but mainly because it exists in the context of L.A., where movies and stagesets representing happier times are the context,” says Gunning. “You couldn’t plunk down a Grove just anywhere. It was designed for its place and it works there — Dallas, Minneapolis or Atlanta would demand a different solution. The key is to create a design solution that is fresh and yet timeless — that responds specifically to a site, city and region and resonates with those who live, work, and shop there.”

Perkowitz + Ruth is designing Santa Clara Square in Santa Clara, California, for Santa Clara Square, LLC. The project includes 150,000 square feet of retail and 450 residential units. Rendering courtesy of Perkowitz + Ruth Architects.

Authenticity — creating a place that feels like it belongs to the environment it is in — is what consumers want. They want to know that the stucco on a lifestyle center is real and that the stone pavers lining the sidewalk come from the area or at least represent what style the area represents.

“What people are attracted to are centers that feel authentic, like they have existed and evolved over time, as opposed to being dropped into a location overnight to capitalize on the trend of the moment,” says Michial Alston, vice president of Development Design Group. “Authentic centers feel real; they feel human. They provide a sense of intimacy and scale, a sense of context.”

How do architects create this context?

“The design must be woven into and feed off the existing urban fabric into which the center is incorporated,” says Alston. “This projects a feeling of permanence.”

JPRA Architects is working on The Grand in Houston for Simon Property Group. The 1.1 million-square-foot urban mixed-use project includes four anchors. Rendering courtesy of JPRA Architects.

Architects also note that — because of competition — developers now need to build quality projects that will stand the test of time. Projects that are being built in areas where customer sophistication is at the highest level also stand the chance of being shunned if it is not up to the level of the community.

“Developers are raising the bar on design,” says John McNulty, principal and founder of MBH Architects. “They know they have to pay attention to detail because the competition is so fierce. They are not afraid of spending a little bit more to make a little bit more. Customers are much more sophisticated today.”

James Ryan of JPRA cites the example of The Domain, a center his firm recently worked on with several other firms for Simon Property Group and Endeavor Real Estate Group in Austin, Texas. At this center, the developers wanted to have something that was a flagship for Texas retail. The company wanted unique materials and colors that showcased its dynamic Texas Hill Country setting, while providing an upscale environment for retailers and customers.

Perkowitz + Ruth is designing a second phase of Bella Terra in Huntington Beach, California, that includes 157,000 square feet of retail and 503 residential units, for DJM Capital Partners, Inc. Rendering courtesy of Perkowitz + Ruth. Rendering courtesy of Perkowitz + Ruth.

Similarly, Everett Hatcher of CMH Architects says that his clients, which include Cousins Properties and Colonial Property Trust, also want to build projects that are appropriately fitting in their locales.

Adding to the authenticity of centers is the return-to-main street approach of many developments. Many architects said that they have been inspired by retail areas that have grown over time and have character — like Union Street in San Francisco, Lincoln Road in Miami Beach and Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, California.

“Old is new again,” says Kevin Nice, associate principal of Arrowstreet. “Retail centers are back to their roots providing an environment that is engaging in itself while adding back those services and uses typical of an urban center, including civic buildings, supermarkets, housing and office.”

Restaurants

MBH Architects is working toward LEED certification on Sonoma Mountain Village, a project it is designing for Codding Enterprises in Rohnert Park, California. Rendering courtesy of MBH Architects.

As restaurants are now one of the more popular features of shopping centers, architects and designers are now called upon to make restaurants fit in existing centers and to effectively design new spaces for restaurants in lifestyle and mixed-use centers. About 40 percent of space in lifestyle center design is dedicated to food or beverage, according to Communication Arts’ Foy.

“Throughout time and throughout the world, restaurants are one of the things that connect us all,” says McNulty. “Go anywhere in the world and there’s restaurants. They are so critical to the success of a center, especially the larger centers.”

MCG is designing the mixed-use Grand Gardens Marketplace at Riverwalk in downtown Pueblo, Colorado, for ServiceStar Development. Rendering courtesy of MCG Architecture.

Several years ago, you only found restaurants on outparcels. Today, designers are being asked to pull restaurants from the pads and incorporate them more into the streetscape of centers. They are also being asked to spread the restaurants throughout the center, not cluster them in one area.

“Ironically, it’s dining — the other thing that people do while shopping — that is becoming an important way to manipulate shopper traffic flow, extend their stay, and promote more sales per square foot of merchandise when planning a shopping environment,” says Gunning.

Restaurants are bringing challenges with them to shopping centers.

“Restaurants tend to be parking hogs,” says Carusi. “Particularly in mixed-use projects, we have to accommodate infrastructure issues for restaurants when they go below residences.”

Arrowstreet is working on the design of a new retail campus for L.L. Bean in Freeport, Maine. Rendering courtesy of Arrowstreet.

“In multi-story projects the challenges include delivery, kitchen exhaust, and odor control,” says Greg Moe of GSBS.

Another challenge with restaurants is accommodating the particular restaurant’s architecture with that of the center.

“The stronger restaurants may have their own image that may not be complimentary to the overall shopping center design,” says Tom Porter, principal of Thompson, Ventulett Stainback & Associates (TVS). “We have been fairly successful in working with these tenants to make the designs more complimentary.”

TVS has designed the renovation and addition of a lifestyle component to General Growth’s Cumberland Mall in Atlanta. TVS did the original design for the mall. Photo courtesy of Brian Gassel, TVS.

In the late 1990s a phenomenon began called Home Meal Replacement, which included retailers like Boston Market and Eatzi’s. Today, that trend has extended to restaurants. According to the National Restaurant Association, restaurant sales in 2007 are forecasted to be $536.9 billion, compared to $322.5 billion in 1997.

“We’ve become a society where eating out is affordable and it becomes a way to go shopping, go eat, go entertain and be entertained,” says Stoutenborough. “Restaurants really work well in a mixed-use environment for this reason.”

Municipal Involvement

Architects cite one interesting source as a new inspiration for their designs — the cities in which the projects will be located in. Often, they say, the developer/client has ended up working on a project as a result of winning an RFP placed by a municipality. It lies then to the architect and the developer to create a project that satisfies the need of the cities. And the cities are happy to tell everyone exactly what they want.

MCG designed the redevelopment of Sierra Vista Mall in Clovis, California, for LandValue Management. Rendering courtesy of MCG Architecture.

“Most of the projects that we are seeing have some degree of public-private partnership,” says Hatcher. “Communities are partnering with developers whether it is for tax incentives or contributing infrastructure in order to get those projects into their community. All communities are looking for a higher quality of development. When they do public-private partnerships, they don’t want just a strip center.”

Cities want projects that reflect the community and that will attract retailers to locate and shoppers to spend. All of this creates a great tax base for the city, and a lifestyle or mixed-use development is a great amenity that attracts new residents.

Development Design Group is designing Market Square, in Gainesville, Virginia, developed by The Peterson Companies. The 750,000-square-foot mixed-use project is located in the heart of western Prince William County, Virginia. Rendering courtesy of Development Design Group.

“The cities are driving the feel of the project,” says Selman, whose firm, Architects Orange, is designing Piemonte at Ontario Center for Panattoni. At that project, Architects Orange “developed a theme that was created from everyone. The forefathers who founded Ontario were from the Piemonte region of Italy. The cities want to have projects that have a tie to the community.”

Part of municipal involvement sometimes also means that the city or county have facilities in the center. Most developers welcome this because it ties the center to the community, and creates another reason for people to visit the center.

“Besides the normal residential-office uses, we are seeing projects that have public uses incorporated into the projects,” says Hatcher. “We are doing a project in Fort Collins, Colorado, for Bayer Properties that has a public library as part of the development, for instance.”

Architects warn that cities should not go at planning the project on their own. Developers pave the way for smoother projects.

GSBS is working on the design of the 385,000-square-foot Vineyard Village in Euless, Texas, for Burk Collins & Co. Rendering courtesy of GSBS.

“If a city is just trying to plan without the benefit of a developer or someone who actually has the ability to build something, they don’t bring reality into what they’re planning,” says Stoutenborough. “They can plan a lot of things that just can’t get built because the economic reality of what they’re seeking to do doesn’t work with what they’ve got. You can’t put a park in front of a Target store; Target just won’t make that deal. But with the ability of a developer to work with a community and the city agencies, together we’ve come up with wonderful solutions.”

More Cooks In The Kitchen

Among developers, there’s a trend to use multiple architecture firms on a single project, especially on large projects or mixed-use projects. Developers have cited different reasons for this. On mixed-use projects, they want architects that specialize in a particular property type to work on that segment of the center. On larger projects, it is often to break up the center into districts so that the project looks as if it was built over time.

MCG is designing the Scott & Haun project for Pac Ten in Riverside County, California, with an agricultural influence. Rendering courtesy of MCG Architecture.

“On Victoria Gardens [in Rancho Cucamonga, California], the client, Forest City, deliberately used a collection of four architects to get the greatest diversity of design talent and to avoid the monotony that can come from one mind designing an entire city,” says KA’s Pattison, who worked on the design of the center. “It seems reasonable that more than one architect, in a well organized and directed effort, should be able to come up with something better than any one of them could have on their own.”

Some architects stressed the need for a “lead” or “master” designer on the projects so there is cohesion and coordination among all the efforts.

“The scope, scale and breadth of many of today’s projects has definitely enhanced the value of the master designer, or design coordinator, so that developers do not lose a sense of unity and control over a given project,” says Alston. “If it becomes too big and too diverse at the expense of cohesion and consistency, the experience is lost on the visitor, and the project will suffer.”

MBH Architects is designing Sherwood Mall for Stone Bros. in Stockton, California. Photo courtesy of MBH Architects.

“There is great advantage to partnering up or forming strategic alliances with other firms, whether it be us in the design role and others as architect of record or vice-versa,” adds Mendez, with DFD CornoyerHedrick.

Many architects SCB spoke to said they don’t mind this trend. Right now, there is a lot of work to be done and all the firms are busy. They often need to collaborate because of the volume of projects currently moving through their studios.

“[Working with other firms] happens frequently, if not necessarily, all the time on the larger centers,” says Gaylord. “Various tenants have their own architects that they work with and it becomes a nice collaboration. We actually enjoy that because it brings in fresh ideas and comments and even different contractors and consultants.”

Who’s Going Green?

As evidenced by the Green Pavilion at this year’s ICSC Spring Convention in Las Vegas, which showcased technology and design to help make centers more environmentally conscious, green architecture is a trend that is about to make a major impact on the industry.

Perkowitz + Ruth designed Bridgeport Village in Tualatin, Oregon, for CenterCal Properties, LLC, and Opus Northwest. The 502,000-square-foot project opened in summer 2005. Photo courtesy of Perkowitz +  Ruth Architects.

Most of the firms that we spoke with had several LEED-certified architects on their staffs. Right now, most agreed that communities are pushing the charge towards requiring LEED-certified projects (also known as “green” buildings).  In retail, said many, it will take a visionary developer to create a LEED-certified project. Many architects mentioned that they have a few LEED-certified projects on their boards, but nothing under construction. Many mentioned that they had designed several shells (outside of buildings) for centers that were LEED certified.

“Ten years ago, nobody wanted to talk about [going green],” says John Cole, principal of Arrowstreet. “Five years ago, it was the marketing people who wanted to talk about it, and now it is the operations people who want to talk about it. It is the future of building in America.”

The reason for the lack of green retail projects is the return on investment. Currently, green office buildings have a stronger payback. Some large corporate tenants will not locate in office buildings that aren’t green. In retail, it is not as tenant-driven because tenants are renting smaller percentages of the space. Just because retail developers aren’t requiring LEED-certified projects doesn’t mean they aren’t being sustainable in their developments, noted a few architects.

The developer who wins the race to have the first regional green retail project will certainly reap the rewards. The publicity for the community and for the center — and the accolades for ingenuity that will follow — will be major.

“In every project that has to get approval by a civil jurisdiction, designing a LEED certified project creates one element of the project that nobody can argue about,” says McNulty. “It is not a difficult thing to do and just takes a little bit of ingenuity and not a lot of cost.”

After a regional LEED certified retail project is opened, expect it to become the norm, warn architects.

Communication Arts was the designer for the renovation of Queens Center in Elmhurst, New York, for Macerich. Photo courtesy of Communication Arts.

“We are seeing projects beginning to be designed in a green approach where we are going for LEED certification,” says Hatcher. “We’ll see more of that. Everyone is taking baby steps right now. In 5 years, we are going to see communities require LEED certification. We’re strongly suggesting to our developers that they consider LEED certification now.”

“It’s a matter of who wants to be first — who wants to make the commitment from a humanitarian/public relations perspective and then prove it not only can be done, but can be done cost effectively,” says Frankie Campione, principal of CREATE Architecture.

Architects are gearing up for this change. Many cited that they had numerous LEED-certified professionals on staff already, including one firm who has 70.

Is Design Getting Tougher?

Many architects say that architecture today is more challenging than it was 10 years ago, though none complained about this fact. Many cited the pressures of municipalities on their designs, while others say that the mixed-use aspect of projects means longer design times and more collaboration among multiple firms handling the design of the different elements of a project.

“Projects are getting more complicated as mixed-use becomes the norm and outdoor formats break down the retail into smaller, more detailed buildings,” says Housewright.

Large multi-use projects that combine property types, such as office buildings, retail and multifamily, also bring their own challenges.

“Our biggest challenge now is to take this model where a developer has a large piece of property and try to make it not look like a project,” says Carusi.

After a project is finished, the developer, the city and the citizen should be proud of what has been built. Architects say designing the project that will accomplish this is one of their biggest feats.

“What we like to do is go into communities and understand that what we’ve built there is part of their house,” says Stoutenborough. “They have to emotionally own it and want it, so that when it’s built they drive by and say, ‘This is my town. This is part of where I live.’”