The plaza at Belmar, Continuum Partners’ 104-acre mixed-use project in Lakewood, Colorado, will feature a central ice skating rink, an events center and Century Theatres.

In the world of commercial real estate the past few years, the retail market has been the strongest performer. Consumer spending, boosted by low interest rates, has remained quite healthy while other sectors have felt the effects of the recent economic downturn. Western Real Estate Business did not have to look long to find evidence of this retail roll in the Rocky Mountain region.

A few miles from downtown Denver and miles out of the ordinary is Belmar, Continuum Partners’ 104-acre mixed-use project in Lakewood, Colorado. Travelers now have reason to pause between the Mile High City and the Rocky Mountains. At completion, Belmar will feature 3.5 million square feet of stores, entertainment, office and residential space in 22 city blocks. Demolition began in January 2002 and the massive project will be finished in the next 5 to 7 years at a cost of approximately $750 million.

“Everything about Belmar has been designed to reflect the feeling of a downtown or an urban block,” says Eliza Prall, director of marketing and community development for Continuum Partners. “Rather than larger and fewer store fronts, we wanted as many store fronts and retailers as possible. We asked our larger retailers to use their smallest prototypes so we could maintain diversity on the street. The aim is for a more interesting experience. As a result, you also have a lot of different faces on the buildings, as you would find in an urban environment. The city of Lakewood developed the vision for the project , which was more than [just] a shopping center or a mixed-use development. It wanted a downtown for Colorado’s fourth largest city.”

A rendering of Teller Street at Belmar, featuring Century Theatres 16-screen cinema and the unique overhead street lighting.

The team that tailored this novel plan consists of design architects Elkus/Manfredi Architects Ltd. of Boston; Civitas Inc. of Denver, the urban designers and landscape architects; and Susman/Prejza and Company, Inc. of Los Angeles. The contractors are San Francisco-based Swinerton Builders, Denver-based Saunders Construction Inc. and J.E. Dunn Construction, located in Kansas City, Missouri.

The first phase (650,000 square feet) of the 1 million square feet of total retail space is 70 percent pre-leased. Anchors include a 16-screen Century Theatres, Galyan’s Trading Company and grocery retailer King Soopers. Signed restaurant leases include Baja Fresh, Ben & Jerry’s, Jamba Juice and Johnny Rockets. Other retail commitments include Bally’s Total Fitness, Brighton Collectibles, Chico’s, The Children’s Place, Coldwater Creek, Foot Locker, Gordon Jewelers, Guess, Linens ‘n Things, Pier 1 Imports, Sharper Image, Sunglass Hut, Victoria’s Secret and Yankee Candle.

“Belmar is not [just] about retail,” says Prall. “Belmar is about creating a unique, quality urban experience of which retail is one component. Every detail of Belmar’s design and programming is about the experience it will provide for people who work, live or visit there. Belmar is about creating a sense of place.”

Memphis, Tennessee-based Poag & McEwen Lifestyle Centers is building the 700,000-square-foot The Shops at Centerra in Loveland, Colorado. Already 50 percent pre-leased, the open-air retail center will open in August 2005.

Sensing its place, Poag & McEwen Lifestyle Centers continues to be active in Colorado with its unique lifestyle retail center developments. The Memphis, Tennessee-based company is constructing another one of its patented open-air, Main Street offerings, having broken ground in January on the 700,000-square-foot The Shops at Centerra in Loveland, Colorado. The retail center, which is already 50 percent pre-leased, has a projected opening date of August 2005.

“This will be the first lifestyle center to come to the Northern Colorado community and will serve the cities of Fort Collins, Greeley, Loveland, Longmont, Windsor, Johnstown, and Berthoud, not to mention close-by Cheyenne, Wyoming,” says Terry McEwen, president of Poag & McEwen Lifestyle Centers. “It will bring the lifestyle specialty retailers and restaurants that the people of Northern Colorado and Wyoming now have to drive to Denver for.”

Barnes & Noble, Foley’s Department Store, Galyan’s Trading Company and a 14-screen Metrolux Theatre will anchor the lifestyle center. The Shops at Centerra will feature a variety of restaurants including P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Biaggi’s and Red Robin. Retailers that have committed include Coldwater Creek, Victoria’s Secret, Express and Bath & Body Works.

Poag & McEwen is collaborating with Atlanta-based architect Dougherty Schroeder & Associates and general contractor Hoar Construction on this newest Colorado project. Loveland-based McWhinney Enterprises, developer of the 3,000-acre master-planned community in which The Shops at Centerra is located, is a 50 percent partner in the project. The entire Centerra development will encompass several million square feet of office and residential space, a hospital, five hotels, an auto-mall and more.

As the developer that coined the term “lifestyle center,” Poag & McEwen finds markets with demographic profiles to support such development and where there’s a void in high quality retail. The Shops at Centerra comes on the heels of The Shops at Briargate, a Colorado Springs retail destination completed in August 2003, and The Shops at Aspen Grove, which has served the southwestern Denver market since its opening in November 2001.

A 126,400-square-foot Target opened for business at Alpine Valley Shopping Center (AVSC) in American Fork, Utah, in October 2003. AVSC developer Miller Weingarten Realty LLC will complete additional anchor space this November at the $13 million retail center.

Miller Weingarten Realty LLC (MWR), based in Englewood, Colorado, is developing Alpine Valley Shopping Center in American Fork, Utah. The 230,900-square-foot, $13 million project is anchored by Target, which opened for business in October 2003. Target built its own 126,400-square-foot store there. The national tenants joining Target at the power center are Old Navy, Pier 1 Imports, Famous Footwear, Game Stop, Sprint, Supercuts and Nextel.

“Upon completion in 2005, the project will be anchored by five to six national anchors in addition to Target, with another 10 to 12 shop tenants and two to three restaurants,” says Gregory Moran, vice president of leasing at MWR. “We feel this quality mix of national tenants will provide for a level of shopping that has not been available in north Utah County.”

Nearly 14,000 new homes will be built in Alpine Valley Shopping Center’s immediate trade area in the near future, making it an advantageous site for retail development. The center’s frontage on Interstate 15 helps, too. “The center has access from three directions and exposure from all four sides,” says Rob Beery, director of design and entitlement for MWR. “This was the most efficient layout considering the surrounding access and fixed boundaries.”

Besides the wide range of retail offerings and the great access, Alpine Valley Shopping Center, located south of Salt Lake City, will draw customers with a contemporary-style masonry construction incorporating a western color scheme. MWR’s project partner, MCG Architecture, is designing façade variations to accommodate each tenant’s storefront and unique prototype design needs.

MWR’s other current retail project is Glenwood Meadows, a large power center located in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. The 385,000-square-foot project, situated on 47.3 acres, is anchored by Target (125,000 square feet) and Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse (130,000 square feet). The project cost, which doesn’t include the self-built Target and Lowe’s, is an estimated $25 million. The property will also include 100,000 square feet for other national anchor tenants, approximately 40,000 square feet of shop space, two restaurant pads and one bank pad. Moran anticipates five to six additional anchor tenants, with shop retailers numbering between 20 and 25 within the Village District of Glenwood Meadows.

“Currently, Glenwood Springs serves as the regional retail hub for the Pitkin, Garfield and western Eagle counties as well as the Roaring Fork Valley, which includes the affluent communities of Aspen and Snowmass,” says Moran. The combined trade area consists of approximately 80,000 year-round residents, with an additional annual tourist population of more than 1.2 million. “The closest major retail market is Grand Junction, Colorado — 90 miles to the west.”

Adhering to the city of Glenwood Springs’ detailed development vision for the project, Glenwood Meadows will feature a “rustic mountain design, with the considerable use of stone, boulders, rough timber beams, pitched roof lines, awnings, strong mountain landscaping and wide pedestrian walkways,” says Moran. The project’s “Main Street” Village District will emphasize the smaller specialty and convenience retailers. This area of the project will take on a unique sense of place with its creative signage, park benches, patios for outside dining and various “pocket parks” between the buildings.

Glenwood Meadows’ excellent visibility and access from Interstate 70 bode well for the project’s growth, as does the zoning of the adjacent 290 acres, which will contain new development, including a new theater complex, convention hotel, live/work units, office space, 475 single-family residential units and a new 18-hole golf course directly south of the project.

The Boyer Company, a Salt Lake City-based builder, owner and manager of commercial real estate in the intermountain West, is keeping busy in its home state. This spring, the company will team up with Arbor Commercial to build Draper Peaks, a 165,000-square-foot shopping center situated on 22 acres in the city of Draper, Utah, south of Salt Lake City. Once completed this fall, Draper Peaks’ anchor tenants will include Kohl’s and Petco among others. “We are also the owners of the 185,000-square-foot Draper Crossing Shopping Center, just across the street, which is anchored by Smith’s Food & Drug and T.J. Maxx,” says Wade Williams, director of retail development for The Boyer Company.

In the city of South Jordan, Utah, The Boyer Company is in the design and entitlement phases on The District, a 420,000-square-foot redevelopment located on 80 acres at the southeast corner of 114th South and Bangerter Highway, south of the capital city. Anchor tenants are yet to be announced.

Redstone, The Boyer Company’s 220,000-square-foot mixed-use development near Park City, Utah, combines a turn-of-the-century architectural style with a Main Street setting to create a unique shopping, working and living environment.

In December 2003, stores began opening at Redstone, The Boyer Company’s 220,000-square-foot open-air mixed-use development, located west of Salt Lake City at the Kimball Junction Interchange of Interstate 80 and Highway 224. Tenants include an eight-screen Rocky Mountain Cinemas; Wild Oats; Bed Bath & Beyond; Petco and Panda Express.

“Redstone incorporates retail, office and residential elements in a pedestrian-friendly setting,” says Scott Verhaaren, project manager for The Boyer Company. “Summit County planners were concerned that new development in the area reflect its town-center guidelines with a greater emphasis on pedestrian orientation and a higher density housing component to preserve open space in the area.”

Just a few miles from Park City, Utah, Redstone is strategically located to benefit from the traffic entering and leaving the resort area.

In Thornton, Colorado, just north of Denver, Jordon Perlmutter & Co. is planning Larkridge, a retail project spanning 240 acres. The first phase (133 acres), which is due to break ground in late spring, will encompass approximately 960,000 square feet of building area.

“The first phase of the project is an open-air center with a pedestrian-and-vehicle friendly environment designed for optimal visibility of tenants,” says Jonathan Perlmutter, principal for the Denver-based developer. To that end, the layout plan will position many of the retail buildings around Larkridge’s parking fields and pedestrian pathways. “Extensive landscaping adaptable to a high-plains environment native to Colorado’s front range will enhance what will be progressive building designs by MCG Architecture and engineering firm Matrix.”

Perlmutter reports that The Home Depot has already signed a lease deal with the developer and negotiations are well underway with several other large national retailers. Jordon Perlmutter & Co. plans a 1 million-square-foot indoor shopping center for Larkridge’s second phase.

“Larkridge will be unique in that the project, with a diverse mix of tenants including restaurants and entertainment, will be a regional draw servicing a major part of the new growth in the Denver metropolitan area,” says Perlmutter. “More than 50,000 new homes are expected to be constructed within the next 5 years in the Thornton regional marketing area.”

Next door, the city of Westminster, Colorado, and Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises recently announced plans for the construction of a regional, open-air lifestyle center in the northern Denver suburb. AMC Theatres will anchor the 1.2 million-square-foot, mixed-use project, which will include 900,000 square feet of fashion-oriented retail as well as townhouses, apartments and office space.

The project will be developed on 215 acres located along the Interstate 25 corridor, south of the C-470 Beltway. The growth of this part of the greater Denver area, Forest City’s knowledge of the market and The Colorado Department of Transportation’s recent approval of a new interchange at the intersection of 144th Avenue and I-25 were all factors in choosing the site for the development of Westminster’s new shopping district.

Southeast of Denver, Alberta Development Partners is well underway on Phase I of its $250 million Southlands project, the 300-acre open-air, mixed-use center in Aurora, Colorado. The Englewood, Colorado-based developer, which has focused in the past on big box, grocery-anchored properties with retail strips, broke ground on the massive development in September 2003. Southlands will feature 1.5 million square feet of retail space.

Phase I of Southlands, which will include the grand opening of a Wal-Mart Supercenter and Sam’s Club, is on schedule for completion in September, says Bryan McFarland, senior development manager at Alberta Development Partners. The second phase, slated to start in August, will feature the Southlands Value Retail Center and will include more than 300,000 square feet of big box retail space. The projected opening for this phase is June 2005.

Southlands Town Center (Phase III) will comprise 473,000 square feet of lower-level retail, with 260,000 square feet of second-level office space located above that. More than 1,000 multifamily units are also planned for the property. “The town center will be developed around a Main Street environment,” says McFarland. “Our customers will have the ability to live, work, shop, play and dine in one setting.”

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