THE DARK SIDE OF WHITE FLINT:
PART 15
Welcome to The Dark Side of White Flint, a frank and candid examination of the not-so-wonnerful, wonnerful, wonnerful side of urbanizing the suburbs.
Click here to read Part 14, and follow links back through the series.
In this installment, another update on White Flint Mall:
White Flint Mall owner Lerner is now indirectly acknowledging the short-term damage its aggressive demolish-and-replace-with-a-city plan has wrought on the last remaining mall tenants, and on its public relations with the community. Sort of.
New signage has been posted outdoors near the Phase 1 demolition site, which has been graded flat for whatever comes next. The signs mention a few of the remaining businesses.
A new marketing slogan - "One Place to Celebrate the Weekend" - fizzled out shortly, when the mall's most popular anchor tenant The Cheesecake Factory said, "we're out of here," and quietly planned its move to the growing Westfield Montgomery Mall. Oops.
With a public relations debacle underway, and a lawsuit from Lord & Taylor filed in court, Lerner actually began to backtrack on its urbanization fervor. We can bring back Bloomingdale's, and other old mall anchors, they said. Never mind that backers of a mini-Manhattan vision for White Flint would have mocked such a statement in the past. Department stores like Bloomingdale's, they say, are fading into the past along with indoor malls, the automobile, trees and backyard barbeques. Apparently Lerner didn't get their memo. The old mall tenants can come back! It will be like Wheaton Plaza in reverse! Indoor mall to outdoor mall. Doesn't exactly sound like 14th Street or "NoMa" to me.
Could it be that most suburban Americans actually aren't that keen on putting their coat and scarf back on each time they move from one store to the next on a shopping trip?
Competitor Westfield, currently reinvesting a boatload of cash into revitalizing Montgomery Mall, operates even larger enclosed malls in other places like Southern California. Clearly, the traffic at those malls, like that at Montgomery Mall, suggests the American indoor mall is here to stay.
You're delusional if you don't think indoor malls aren't on the way out. White Flint (which was a joke even before the new sector plan) isn't the only one that failed. Landover and Laurel malls in Prince George's have already been torn down. In Silver Spring, City Place mall is a joke and is 90% vacant, with the only quality being outside on Fenton and Ellsworth Streets where shoppers are (suprise!) happy to brave the elements. The owners of Lakeforest Mall in Gaithersburg defaulted on their loan and were forced to sell and city officials are mulling razing the mall.
ReplyDeleteIn N. Virginia the dump known as Springfield Mall was recently razed (again to be replaced with outdoor retail) and this year it was announced that Landmark Mall in Alexandria would follow. Ballston Common Mall in Arlington is also struggling. The list goes on and on...
All the while new outdoor mixed-use outdoor shopping centers (often transit accessible) such as Washingtonian Center (Rio), National Harbor, and Wisconsin Place draw crowds and have little or no vacancies. The only indoor malls doing well are Westfield Montgomery, the two Tysons malls, Pentagon City, and Arundel Mills.
I actually am a huge fan of Rio in Gaithersburg. The water element, layout and free parking options really give it sense of place and make it convenient and enjoyable to visit. I would mention that White Flint Mall stated it was fully-leased within the last 2 years, so it is a different case; it did not have the vacancies to qualify as a "failing" mall. It was simply a decision made by the owner to redevelop.
DeleteCity Place had essentially no marketing. I've never been reached by any advertising for it via print, TV, radio or internet. I don't think any business can survive without advertising.
Seems like the malls that have kept updated with a good mix of stores, restaurants and movies are doing well.
ReplyDeleteLakeforest doesn't have this. If they updated, I think they would be doing better. Real opportunity there.
You can't update if the stores don't wanna come. Lakeforest Mall was run by Simon, the largest and most experienced retail REIT in the country, not some fly-by-night outfit and they still failed.
ReplyDeleteThe only reason Westfield and Tysons have been doing so well is because they're surrounded by extremely wealthy residents (even for this area) in Bethesda/Potomac and McLean and the kind of stores that cater to them don't need volume to drive revenue since their profit margins are already so large.
The typical American "middle-class mall" as we know it is dead.
Your point about Simon is a good one. I can't understand what happened when they ran Lakeforest. They do a fantastic job with Arundel Mills in just about every respect. Why they couldn't do that in an even wealthier county like Montgomery is surprising.
DeleteTysons in doing well because they invest in the mall. For example, they did a whole new wing with great restaurants and an IMAX theater.
ReplyDeleteLakeforest doesn't provide the consumer as good of an experience even though they offer many of the same national retailers as Westfield and Tysons.
Gaithersburg is a burgeoning area. I think Lakeforest would be more of an option if they had a movie theater, restaurants, etc.
"Wow, Simon is doing a great job managing Lakeforest": said by no one
ReplyDeleteThe concept of a mall has not failed, it was Lerner that failed to innovate. Montgomery Mall is just a few miles down the road, draws from the same customer base, and was behind White Flint in WF's heyday. Then, MM innovated by updating, adding new features etc.
ReplyDeleteI'd argue it was WF's game to lose - they even have their own Metro stop! - and lost it they did -- to Montgomery Mall.
How many updates has MM done in the last 20 years vs WF? I'd say many more. Lerner got complacent.
" Lerner got complacent."
ReplyDeleteCould not agree more anon @6:20
I now do all my shopping at Tysons and Columbia Mall both of which are thriving,expanding and have plenty of parking. Also do outlet shopping at Arundel Mills. There is nothing left in the White Flint area or frankly on Rockville Pike worth going to...it seems like it's just a bunch of new apartments. This of course pleases the trendy new urbaneists, but most people who deal in the real world are just going elsewhere...in their cars.
"The only indoor malls doing well are Westfield Montgomery, the two Tysons malls, Pentagon City, and Arundel Mills."
ReplyDeleteSo there's a lot of demand for well-run shopping malls, and not so much for crappy ones. It's like that in most industries.
Washingtonian Center is nice, but doesn't offer anywhere near the depth of shopping options that Montgomery and Tyson's do. Wisconsin Place may come close, but it's mostly high-end stuff.
Does anyone know anything about Westfield Wheaton?
ReplyDelete