Bringing Upscale Living Home
Cullinan Properties strives to bring upscale shopping, living and entertainment options to high growth metropolitan and middle market communities.
Amy Bigley

Founded in 1988 by Diane Cullinan as a real estate development company offering an array of services from residential/commercial brokerage services and asset management to acquisition services and site selection, Peoria, Illinois-based Cullinan Properties has evolved over the past 19 years to become a nationally recognized retail development company.

The company primarily focuses on bringing high-end fashion retail, first-class dining and entertainment options to metropolitan high growth communities surrounding major markets such as Pittsburgh, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Atlanta and St. Louis.

“Customers, who usually travel into the major cities for their fashion shopping, greatly appreciate the convenience of closer high-end fashion retail, and reward the stores with their loyalty,” says Chuck Boysen, director of marketing and leasing at Cullinan.

While targeting the higher demographic, high growth communities surrounding major metropolitan areas, Cullinan also strives to develop retail and mixed-use centers that offer first class shopping options to middle markets, such as Peoria and Topeka, Kansas, with strong demographics and higher barriers to entry.

By building a nationally recognized team of professionals and completing many successful projects, the company has earned trust in the retail development sector from cities looking for new retail opportunities.

“Many municipalities welcome the opportunity to partner with developers to stop the leakage of sales tax revenue and generate additional revenues for their communities while strengthening their often stretched budgets,” adds Boysen.

Although Cullinan has recently focused mainly on developing mixed-use lifestyle centers, which are in high demand from consumers, retailers and municipalities, the company also looks for under-performing, enclosed regional malls for redevelopment and repositioning as vibrant retail destinations.

The Village of O’Fallon
O’Fallon, Missouri

In March, Cullinan Properties partnered with THF Realty to break ground for the construction of The Village of O’Fallon, a more than 500,000-square-foot lifestyle center in O’Fallon, Missouri. Located in rapidly growing St. Charles County, the project is part of a 265-acre master-planned office and residential community, which is currently being developed by THF Realty.

Current construction in the community includes Summit Place, a 75,000-square-foot office building slated for completion this fall, and American Power Conversion Corp.’s Technology and Learning Center, which is estimated to drive thousands of hotel nights per year.

Although tenant negotiations are still underway, the village will bring upscale living, working and shopping opportunities to the community’s residents and office tenants. The mix of fashion retailers, restaurants and entertainment options will also complement the tremendous growth in O’Fallon and the surroundings areas.

The Shoppes at Grand Prairie
Peoria, Illinois

The Shoppes at Grand Prairie, which opened in April 2003, is a 493,000-square-foot lifestyle center located on West War Memorial Drive in Peoria, Illinois.

To combat the lack of upscale shopping options in Central Illinois, Cullinan Properties developed The Shoppes at Grand Prairie, a 493,000-square-foot lifestyle center located on West War Memorial Drive in Peoria.

The open-air center, which opened in April 2003, offers more than 60 premier retailers and restaurants, including Bergner’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Borders Books & Music, Linens ‘n Things, Old Navy, Cache, Jos. A. Bank, J. Jill, Coldwater Creek, Ann Taylor, Chico’s and White House|Black Market.

“The Shoppes at Grand Prairie has drawn many additional dining, hotel and entertainment venues to the area and [is] fueling the growth in northwest Peoria,” says Boysen. “As more density has been established in the area, more office and residential developers are responding with upscale product to serve the market.”

The pedestrian-friendly center, designed in a Georgian Revival architectural style, offers a landscaped courtyard and pedestrian promenade, street lamps, park-like seating areas and a children’s play area.

With a draw of more than 30 counties and 1.6 million people, Peoria was a natural location for an upscale shopping center. The upscale retail mix helped fulfill residential demand for luxury retail options located between Chicago, St. Louis and Indianapolis.

Southpointe Town Center
Canonsburg, Pennsylvania

Cullinan Properties is developing Southpointe Town Center, a 500,000-square-foot lifestyle center that will be the final phase of the 800-acre Southpointe Development in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.

Located 20 miles south of Pittsburgh within the 800-acre master-planned Southpointe development, Southpointe Town Center, a 500,000-square-foot lifestyle center located along Southpointe Boulevard in Canonsburg, is poised to become a shopping, dining and entertainment hotspot for the currently underserved community. 

With more than 7,000 new homes platted and permitted in the approximately 900,000-person trade area and a rapidly growing office and residential market, Town Center’s 50 acres of fashion retail, restaurants and entertainment components will offer needed upscale shopping, dining and entertainment options to the area.

Boysen notes that Southpointe’s trade area includes some of the best residential communities in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, including Mt. Lebanon, Upper St. Clair and Peters Township.

As the final phase of the Southpointe development, Town Center, which will be anchored by a state-of-the-art, stadium-style seating theater, will boost Southepointe’s presence with more than 1 million square feet of Class A office space and more than 130 residential units.

Being developed by Cullinan Properties and Horizon Properties and slated to open in spring 2008, the center’s tenant mix will complement the existing office and residential components of the Southpointe development, which comprises more than 3.5 million square feet of upscale office and commercial space, thousands of residential homes and a new championship golf course.


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