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Downtowns vs. Lifestyle Centers
Open-air retail developments raise worries among traditional merchants
By Robert Preer, Globe Correspondent | December 9, 2006
Lifestyle centers are one of the hottest trends in retailing -- open-air shopping developments that try to look like traditional downtowns, with wide sidewalks, outdoor cafes, entertainment, and, in some cases, housing and offices above shops.
They've been celebrated for shifting somewhat the design of shopping destinations away from automobile-oriented malls to pedestrian-friendly streetscapes that encourage window shopping and strolling.
But in Greater Boston these re-imagined downtowns are competition for some real downtowns. The Derby Street Shoppes in Hingham and planned lifestyle centers in Dedham and Reading are just a few miles from the traditional downtowns of those communities.
"We're hoping people will still want to go to the original," said Peter H. Reynolds, the owner of the Blue Bunny children's book and toy store in Dedham Square, and head of the local merchants' association.
Scheduled to open in 2008, the Legacy Place lifestyle center in Dedham would be a short drive down Route 1 from downtown. In addition to about 70 national retailers and more than a half-dozen restaurants, the center will have a 16-screen movie theater, the flagship for media giant and Legacy Place developer National Amusements, which will have its corporate headquarters on the site.
This worries Paul McMurtry, the owner of Dedham Community Theatre, a 1927, two-screen movie house in Dedham Square.
Although National Amusements already operates a 12-screen theatre on the site, McMurty predicted the new 16-screen multiplex would kill his theater, which shows mostly independent films and is home to the whimsical Museum of Bad Art in its basement.
"If this is an anchor for downtown Dedham, we have to find some way for this theater to survive," McMurtry said.
W/S Development Associates, the development arm of real estate firm S.R. Weiner Associates of Chestnut Hill and planner of Legacy Place with National Amusements, maintains that old downtowns and lifestyle centers can coexist. The developer has been talking with Dedham Square merchants about a joint marketing campaign.
"I personally think they can be symbiotic and be a benefit to each other," said Brian Sciera, vice president of lifestyle centers for W/S Development. "We feel a rising tide lifts all boats."
W/S Development built Massachusetts' first lifestyle center, Hingham's Derby Street Shoppes, which opened in 2004, and is developing the Reading project.
Most of the stores in a lifestyle center are national retailers that would not locate in a town center because downtown spaces usually are too small, according to Sciera.
In Hingham, downtown merchants say they have suffered since the arrival of Derby Street Shoppes.
However, the lifestyle center's opening coincided with construction of a railroad tunnel under Hingham Square, which has disrupted downtown traffic. Merchants say they don't know how much of the drop-off in business was caused by each factor.
"It has been really tough," said Richard McManus, former president of the Hingham Business Association, which represents downtown businesses. "Here it was a double whammy." McManus said downtown is drawing more service businesses now, as opposed to retailers. Restaurants are particularly strong downtown, he said.
In Reading, downtown merchants are eyeing warily what was originally planned to be a 400,000-square-foot lifestyle center about a 1 1/2 miles from downtown. Opposition from residents and officials earlier this year prompted W/S Development to withdraw the plans and rethink the project, which is likely to include other uses besides retailers, according to company officials.
Reading merchants are divided on the project, according to Jean Smith, owner of Sense of Wonder gift shop, one of Main Street's most prominent businesses.
She said the original lifestyle center plan "would have been problematic for the downtown because of the size and scope of it." Smith said she is more hopeful about a revised plan. "We're always cautiously optimistic this project will complement what exists in the downtown," she said.
One other lifestyle center is Wayside Commons in Burlington. It is near the Burlington Mall but not close to any traditional downtowns.
David Goldberg, communications director for Smart Growth America in Washington, D.C., said lifestyle centers are an improvement over sprawling shopping centers because they tend not to overwhelm neighborhoods and can evolve into more urban developments.
On the other hand, many lifestyle centers are purely retail without the mixed uses of an old downtown, according to Goldberg. "We like to see downtowns revitalized and reused. First and foremost, that's the priority," Goldberg said.
Robert Preer can be reached at preer@globe.com
? Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.
Open-air retail developments raise worries among traditional merchants
By Robert Preer, Globe Correspondent | December 9, 2006
Lifestyle centers are one of the hottest trends in retailing -- open-air shopping developments that try to look like traditional downtowns, with wide sidewalks, outdoor cafes, entertainment, and, in some cases, housing and offices above shops.
They've been celebrated for shifting somewhat the design of shopping destinations away from automobile-oriented malls to pedestrian-friendly streetscapes that encourage window shopping and strolling.
But in Greater Boston these re-imagined downtowns are competition for some real downtowns. The Derby Street Shoppes in Hingham and planned lifestyle centers in Dedham and Reading are just a few miles from the traditional downtowns of those communities.
"We're hoping people will still want to go to the original," said Peter H. Reynolds, the owner of the Blue Bunny children's book and toy store in Dedham Square, and head of the local merchants' association.
Scheduled to open in 2008, the Legacy Place lifestyle center in Dedham would be a short drive down Route 1 from downtown. In addition to about 70 national retailers and more than a half-dozen restaurants, the center will have a 16-screen movie theater, the flagship for media giant and Legacy Place developer National Amusements, which will have its corporate headquarters on the site.
This worries Paul McMurtry, the owner of Dedham Community Theatre, a 1927, two-screen movie house in Dedham Square.
Although National Amusements already operates a 12-screen theatre on the site, McMurty predicted the new 16-screen multiplex would kill his theater, which shows mostly independent films and is home to the whimsical Museum of Bad Art in its basement.
"If this is an anchor for downtown Dedham, we have to find some way for this theater to survive," McMurtry said.
W/S Development Associates, the development arm of real estate firm S.R. Weiner Associates of Chestnut Hill and planner of Legacy Place with National Amusements, maintains that old downtowns and lifestyle centers can coexist. The developer has been talking with Dedham Square merchants about a joint marketing campaign.
"I personally think they can be symbiotic and be a benefit to each other," said Brian Sciera, vice president of lifestyle centers for W/S Development. "We feel a rising tide lifts all boats."
W/S Development built Massachusetts' first lifestyle center, Hingham's Derby Street Shoppes, which opened in 2004, and is developing the Reading project.
Most of the stores in a lifestyle center are national retailers that would not locate in a town center because downtown spaces usually are too small, according to Sciera.
In Hingham, downtown merchants say they have suffered since the arrival of Derby Street Shoppes.
However, the lifestyle center's opening coincided with construction of a railroad tunnel under Hingham Square, which has disrupted downtown traffic. Merchants say they don't know how much of the drop-off in business was caused by each factor.
"It has been really tough," said Richard McManus, former president of the Hingham Business Association, which represents downtown businesses. "Here it was a double whammy." McManus said downtown is drawing more service businesses now, as opposed to retailers. Restaurants are particularly strong downtown, he said.
In Reading, downtown merchants are eyeing warily what was originally planned to be a 400,000-square-foot lifestyle center about a 1 1/2 miles from downtown. Opposition from residents and officials earlier this year prompted W/S Development to withdraw the plans and rethink the project, which is likely to include other uses besides retailers, according to company officials.
Reading merchants are divided on the project, according to Jean Smith, owner of Sense of Wonder gift shop, one of Main Street's most prominent businesses.
She said the original lifestyle center plan "would have been problematic for the downtown because of the size and scope of it." Smith said she is more hopeful about a revised plan. "We're always cautiously optimistic this project will complement what exists in the downtown," she said.
One other lifestyle center is Wayside Commons in Burlington. It is near the Burlington Mall but not close to any traditional downtowns.
David Goldberg, communications director for Smart Growth America in Washington, D.C., said lifestyle centers are an improvement over sprawling shopping centers because they tend not to overwhelm neighborhoods and can evolve into more urban developments.
On the other hand, many lifestyle centers are purely retail without the mixed uses of an old downtown, according to Goldberg. "We like to see downtowns revitalized and reused. First and foremost, that's the priority," Goldberg said.
Robert Preer can be reached at preer@globe.com
? Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.