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Feature Article, October 2005
Regional Success
Toledo-area town center enjoys sky-high sales, thanks to a regional draw.
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The Town Center at Levis Commons opened in the Toledo suburb of Perrysburg, Ohio, to incredible results. A second phase is planned. |
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The grand opening of The Town Center at Levis Commons, the first lifestyle center in Northwest Ohio, was a tremendous success from day one, bringing in more than $400 per square foot in sales. And that's just what Charlotte, North Carolina-based developer Hill Partners, Inc. expected.
“It's part of a greater mixed-use development unlike anything in Northwest Ohio,” says Bob Spratt, president of Hill Partners. “It's got residential, office and flagship retail, and now has a Fortune 500 company in the overall master-planned project. The goal was to raise the bar — nothing this significant has been built in Northwest Ohio in the last 20 years.”
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The 400-acre, $250 million Town Center at Levis Commons will eventually house 600,000 square feet of retail and office space, 350 residential units and a full-service hotel.
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Hill Partners teamed up with Perrysburg, Ohio-based Dillin Development Corporation to create the Town Center as part of a master-planned, mixed-use project called J. Preston Levis Commons. The 400-acre, $250 million project, located in the Toledo suburb of Perrysburg, will eventually house 600,000 square feet of retail and office space, 350 residential units and a full-service hotel.
The Town Center is the lynchpin of the project and is currently in its second phase of development with pre-leasing underway for about 175,000 square feet of new specialty retail space, including restaurants and lifestyle uses. Above the retail will be 80 luxury residential units. Developers expect to break ground on Phase II in the spring and be ready to open about a year later.
“We often proceed with caution on Phase II of a project,” notes Spratt, “waiting until Phase I is mature and successful. But this thing has moved along so quickly that it's set up our process for Phase II, and that's always a pleasure to see from a development standpoint.”
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Tenants include Ann Taylor Loft, Biaggi's Ristorante Italiano, Blue Pacific Grill, The Bombay Company, Brighton Collectibles, Chico's, Christopher & Banks, Coldwater Creek, Gymboree, J. Jill, Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Max & Erma's, Starbucks, Talbots and Talbots Petites, the majority of which are new to the market.
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The first phase of the Town Center is 319,000 square feet, which includes 251,000 square feet of retail space and 68,000 square feet of office development. Tenants include Ann Taylor Loft, Biaggi's Ristorante Italiano, Blue Pacific Grill, The Bombay Company, Brighton Collectibles, Chico's, Christopher & Banks, Coldwater Creek, Gymboree, J. Jill, Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Max & Erma's, Starbucks, Talbots and Talbots Petites, the majority of which are new to the market. Also new is a flagship Arhaus furniture store. The company already had a location in the northern portion of the market, but due to the regionality of the Levis Commons site and the growth in the southern portion of the market, Arhaus relocated its store from a freestanding location to a flagship location within the Town Center.
The Bombay Company also relocated from a regional mall on the north side of the market, due to the visibility of Levis Commons and to be situated in the heart of the growth.
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A rendering of Phase II of The Town Center at Levis Commons will include 175,000 square feet of additional retail space.
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Designed by MBH Architects to be pedestrian friendly, the open-air center's architecture is based on the theme of a turn-of-the-century Victorian town. The idea was to design something that would fit well with the architecture already present in historic Perrysburg. The retail center will be surrounded by outparcel locations for restaurant, office and other retail space.
When the first phase of the Town Center opened last fall, developers were projecting a regional draw due to the fact that 75 percent of the center's merchants were new to the market, as well as the regionality of the site, which is located off Interstate 475, the beltway around Toledo. With a previous void in the market for quality retail, residents were driving to Cleveland, Detroit or Columbus — the closest of which was about an hour away — because they just didn't have any good shopping options in Toledo.
“Our prediction for a regional draw has indeed been the case,” notes Spratt. “We're really drawing from all over Northwest Ohio and Southern Michigan, way to the south of the site. Merchant sales so far are indicative of how the people have been pleased to see these retailers now in their backyards, versus having to take these lengthy drives to shop.”
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The first phase of the Town Center is 319,000 square feet, which includes 251,000 square feet of retail space and 68,000 square feet of office development.
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Directly adjacent to the Town Center will be residential units, including row houses, townhomes, loft apartments and condominiums, some of which will be built over ground-floor retail. And 332 luxury residential townhomes are scheduled to open this month.
After the completion of Phase II of the Town Center, the rest of the master-planned project will unfold in a 3- to 4-year buildout process and will include a full-service hotel; a five-story clock tower and small amphitheater for special events; ProMedica, one of the nation's largest medical office employers; and a Fortune 500 company's world headquarters.
As lead developer of The Town Center at Levis Commons, Hill Partners has handled the creation of the strategic plan, development, leasing, tenant coordination, merchandising, marketing and management of the lifestyle development. The company has extensive experience in developing or redeveloping some of the most prominent specialty retail projects in the country, including Jackson Brewery, a historic landmark building located in the heart of the French quarter in New Orleans. Other examples include Worthington Mall, in Worthington, Ohio, in which the company created the strategic plan and implemented a $10 million dollar renovation leasing program, and Barefoot Landing, a waterfront village the company developed in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, which includes 120 Stores, a House of Blues and a 2,200-seat theater, operated by the country and western group, Alabama.
— Susan H. Fishman
©2005 France Publications, Inc. Duplication or reproduction of this article not permitted without authorization from France Publications, Inc. For information on reprints of this article contact Barbara Sherer at (630) 554-6054.
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