Park Meadows will get a 154,000- square-foot outdoor retail plaza under redevelopment plans detailed Monday by the mall’s management.
The new addition will replace the former Lord & Taylor store on the mall’s southwest side. The store has been vacant since 2004, when the retailer shuttered all three of its metro-area stores.
The redeveloped space is expected to include four restaurants and a variety of retailers, although no tenant announcements have been made. Plans call for six to eight buildings clustered around outdoor walkways, fire pits and fountains.
“The vision is really to do an extension of the retail resort concept that we have established and maintained for the last 10 years,” said Park Meadows general manager Pam Schenck.
The three-story Lord & Taylor store is in the final stages of demolition, and the space it occupied will be used for parking during the holiday shopping season. Construction is expected to start next year. The new addition is scheduled to open in 2008. The interior of the mall leading to the redevelopment will be updated to create a more natural transition to the outdoor area, Schenck said.
The redevelopment follows the increasingly popular trend of outdoor retail. Most new malls are being constructed as outdoor centers, and indoor malls throughout the country are revamping to add outdoor space.
Consolidation and closings in the department-store sector created vacancies that are helping drive the trend, said Malachy Kav anagh, a spokesman for the International Council of Shopping Centers.
“It’s difficult to try to fill a (department store) space in its entirety, so one option is to open it up and create outdoor retail,” he said.
Midsized tenants are also driving the trend by demanding more visible space with closer parking and easier access, he said.
The former Lord & Taylor store in Denver’s Cherry Creek mall will reopen as a Nordstrom in the fall of 2007. The future of the Lord & Taylor at FlatIron Crossing in Broomfield remains uncertain. Mall owner Macerich Co. has said it is considering a variety of options, including a hotel, for the space.
The redevelopment at Park Meadows is a joint venture of mall owner General Growth Properties and JPMorgan Asset Management.
Staff writer Kristi Arellano can be reached at 303-954-1902 or karellano@denverpost.com.
