| Redefining the Mall in the name of Urbanism |
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| Wednesday, 30 April 2008 | |
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Metro Jacksonville attempts to clear up the local media's misconceptions about the characteristics of malls, lifestyle centers, the concept of new urbanism and their impact on the First Coast. "The location is Jacksonville's example of 'new urbanism,' where shopping, restaurants, offices and homes converge for a walkable community." - A description of the St. Johns Town Center in a recent Times-Union article. What is a Lifestyle Center? A lifestyle center is a shopping center or mixed-used commercial development that combines the traditional retail functions of a shopping mall but with leisure amenities oriented towards upscale consumers. Lifestyle centers, which were first labeled as such by Memphis developers Poag and McEwen in the late 1980's and emerged as a retailing trend in the late 1990's, are sometimes labeled "boutique malls". They are often located in affluent suburban areas.
The proliferation of lifestyle centers in the United States accelerated in the 2000's, with numbers going from 30 in 2002 to 120 at the end of 2004. Lifestyle centers are sometimes depicted as occupying the upscale end of the spectrum of commercial development, at the opposite end of the outlet mall, which typically caters to a wider range of income with bargain prices. The growth of lifestyle centers had occurred at the same time as an acceleration of the closing of traditional shopping malls, which typically require large sites over 70 acres (283,000 m²) at a time when land prices were escalating. Lifestyle centers usually require less land and generate higher revenue margins, often generating close to $500 per square foot, compared to an average of $330 per square foot for a traditional mall, according to the president of Poag and McEwen. Other advantages lifestyle centers have over traditional enclosed malls are savings on heating and cooling and quicker access for busy customers. Typical amenities at lifestyle centers include plush chairs instead of traditional plastic seating in common areas. USA Today's list of lifestyle centers, constructed in 2006 or before, in the United States:
"Like insecure teenagers, malls keep changing their style. They are ripping away their roofs and drywalled corridors; adding open-air plazas, sidewalks, and street-side parking; and rechristening themselves "lifestyle centers." This new look may remind you of something: a vibrant urban street. Yet, while these new malls may appear to be public space, they're not public at all—at least if you want to do anything but shop. They represent a bait-and-switch routine on the part of developers, one that exchanges the public realm for the commercial one. They're also enormously successful—by the most recent count, there are about 130 lifestyle centers scattered around the country." Andrew Blum - Metropolis - 4/6/08 Full article: http://www.slate.com/id/2116246/
In short, the traditional mall's enclosed common area has been replaced with an an outdoor main street theme.
Examples of traditional malls The history of shopping malls date as far back as the 10th century A.D., however the concept of fully enclosed shopping malls in the United States did not appear until the 1950's.
Gateway Mall - Jacksonville, FL
Gateway Town Center is a combination of an outdoor strip center and traditional enclosed mall.
Millenia Mall - Orlando, FL
Bell Tower Shops (1982) - Fort Myers, FL
Lakeside Village (2005) - Lakeland, FL
Promenade Shops - Scottsdale, AR
New Urbanism (also called Smart Growth, New Community Design, Neotraditional Design, Traditional Neighborhood Development, Location Efficient Development and Transit Oriented Development) is a set of development practices to create more attractive, efficient and livable communities. These can significantly improve Accessibility and reduce per-capita automobile travel. Specific design features are listed below. Of course, not all of these features are included in all New Urban developments.
Characteristics of New Urbanist Developments:
1. A primary task of all urban architecture and landscape design is the physical definition of streets and public spaces as places of shared use. 2. Individual architectural projects should be seamlessly linked to their surroundings. This issue transcends style. 3. The revitalization of urban places depends on safety and security. The design of streets and buildings should reinforce safe environments, but not at the expense of accessibility and openness. 4. In the contemporary metropolis, development must adequately accommodate automobiles. It should do so in ways that respect the pedestrian and the form of public space. 5. Streets and squares should be safe, comfortable, and interesting to the pedestrian. Properly configured, they encourage walking and enable neighbors to know each other and protect their communities. 6. Architecture and landscape design should grow from local climate, topography, history, and building practice. 7. Civic buildings and public gathering places require important sites to reinforce community identity and the culture of democracy. They deserve distinctive form, because their role is different from that of other buildings and places that constitute the fabric of the city. 8. All buildings should provide their inhabitants with a clear sense of location, weather and time. Natural methods of heating and cooling can be more resource-efficient than mechanical systems. 9. Preservation and renewal of historic buildings, districts, and landscapes affirm the continuity and evolution of urban society. From the Congress for the New Urbanism http://architecture.about.com/od/communitydesign/a/urbanismcharter.htm
Surrounded by massive surface parking lots, like the traditional enclosed malls they replaced, the lifestyle centers above do not conform with these characteristics promoted by The Congress for the New Urbanism. The lifestyle centers below are examples of what these projects tend to resemble when they are designed with New Urbanist principles.
Atlantic Station - Atlanta, GA
Crocker Park - Cleveland, OH
Country Club Plaza (1923) - Kansas City, MO
The Shops at Sunset Place (1999) - South Miami http://www.simon.com/mall/default.aspx?ID=143
City Place (2000) - West Palm Beach, FL
The Boulevard (2007) - St. Louis, MO
Where does the St. Johns Town Center fit? "Having said that, there is one minor bright spot not far from Southside Blvd. The St. John's Town Center, a large shopping mall, appears at first glance to be a conventional strip center, with a high-speed road and lots of parking in front. But if you go deep into this complex, you will find something faintly resembling a miniature San Marco: a few blocks where the shops are next to the sidewalk and people actually stroll around. And behind this area, there is a hotel and some condos, and undeveloped land that could be used to make more condos. Today, a pitiful imitation of a walkable neighborhood...." Car-Free in Jacksonville by Michael Lewyn - Assistant professor at Florida Coastal School of Law
http://www.simon.com/mall/default.aspx?ID=857 The St. Johns Town Center, which opened in 2005, resembles a lifestyle center that does not fully follow the principles of New Urbanism, listed above. Although all contain retail stores that make them an asset to their respective communities, the major difference between the Town Center and those, such as Cleveland's Crocker Park, revolves around building setbacks. By placing massive parking lots between the street and the shopping center, the important New Urbanist characteristic of minimum building setbacks to form the urban sense of spatial definition at a pedestrian level along with the goal of having seamless connectivity with adjacent properties is lost.
The Virginia Beach Town Center is a great example of how a lifestyle center, that incorporates New Urbanism can begin to transform redevelopment in its suburban surroundings.
An aerial of Virginia Beach Boulevard in 1990, shows the general area engulfed in a sea of sprawl and asphalt parking lots.
The Virginia Beach Town Center master plan calls for the development of a lifestyle center that creates a pedestrian friendly street grid and multiple buildings in an area where most would believe this type of development is not possible.
Over the next few years, this development has formed an urban core in a spread out suburb that never had a true downtown.
In this image, notice the infill development that has started to take place in the mall's parking lot across the street from the Virginia Beach Town Center. Suburban outparcels have been rebuilt to front the sidewalk in a similar fashion to the Town Center's new structures.
The success of the Virginia Beach Town Center has led to the potential redevelopment of a strip mall nearby. When complete, City Walk will offer 380,000 square feet of retail/restaurant space, 461 town homes and condominiums and a 192 room hotel.
This type of transformation is not possible with developments that are still primarily designed for the automobile and place huge parking lots between their particular use and the adjacent properties.
Understanding the difference between development styles does not matter if the goal is to bring retail into an area that had previously been void of such shopping options. The problem arises when local media and city planners begin to believe and preach to citizens that this type of development serves as the ideal form of New Urbanism in the suburbs. With this belief we do our city a great disservice by missing out on the true benefit of New Urbansim's ability to limit sprawl and redefine development trends in our low density suburban areas.
Brooklyn Park - Jacksonville
If Brooklyn Park becomes reality it will be the first major retail center in Jacksonville to be designed with New Urbanist principles that will serve as a catalyst to stimulate similar styled development along Riverside Avenue and Park Street.
Article written by Ennis Davis |
April 30, 2008, 8:14 am
Re: Redefining the Mall in the name of Urbanism
Thank you so much for this article! No truer words have been spoken. You were able to very eloquently convey a point I've been trying to make to many people since the inception of SJTC.
April 30, 2008, 8:28 am
Re: Redefining the Mall in the name of Urbanism
An interesting example of New Urbanism in the suburbs is Birkdale Village in Huntersville, NC, about 20 minutes north of uptown Charlotte. It's three story apartment complex with mall stores at street level. There are bars, restaurants, and even a cinema on the premises. No large department stores, though. One block is also reserved for office space. It's a very cool place to visit, but if I had a wife who stayed home all day, I'd be terrified to live there!
http://www.birkdalevillage.net/welcome.htm
April 30, 2008, 8:59 am
Re: Redefining the Mall in the name of Urbanism
Thank you, Lake, for clarifying this!
I can't tell you how many experienced developers, commercial real estate professionals, municipal professionals and even planners bandy about "new urbanism" out of ignorance or in an effort to apply what is now considered trendy to various projects.
Brooklyn Park fits the bill, as could a visionary development in LaVilla (if parking were carefully planned), but SJTC is merely a lifestyle center (aka outdoor mall with pricier stores). Some would say SJTC was needed in Jax, but now it's here, almost fully planned and built out, so can we move on to something a bit more urban-innovative?
Where are the innovators in this town? Innovating is difficult, but that's what makes it so great. Eating up NEFL land like bacteria in a sideless petri dish is tired.
April 30, 2008, 9:12 am
Re: Redefining the Mall in the name of Urbanism
I agree with the points raised by this post. More urban-type construction is needed and would be a welcome change in this region. Completely smack in the face of this statement, I just moved into Georgetown, the townhouses behind the SJTC. My wife and I walk over to the TC regularly to shop, dine, grab a glass of vino, hit the Publix, etc. We both commute to work, but when we're home, we can do a lot of things without the car. Pretty nice. Does that make me a living anachronism?
Speaking of possible anachronisms, what are anyone's thoughts on Tapestry Park, which is trying to push itself as an 'urban village?' Just another commercial property mocking true new-urbanism? Or a step in the right direction?
April 30, 2008, 9:35 am
Re: Redefining the Mall in the name of Urbanism
I haven't been back through there in a while. Isn't Georgetown a gated community with one way in and one way out by car?
Georgetown has the benefit of being next door to a shopping center, in the same fashion that living on or near San Juan Avenue gives those few residents pretty easy access to Roosevelt Square on foot. However, no one would attempt to make the claim that Roosevelt Square represents new urbanism although its easy to reach its Longhorn Steakhouse on foot than it is to walk from Georgetown to the SJTC's Original Pancake House.
I find Tapestry Park interesting. Its a decent attempt limited by its location in the middle of an office park with curving parkways and poor direct access to Southside Blvd (in regards to the retail section it has). Given the location and the size, I don't think it will have much of an impact.
April 30, 2008, 9:59 am
Re: Redefining the Mall in the name of Urbanism
Great article Ennis.
After seeing the multiple aerial views of the Town Center, there still may be hope for its future. The parking lot does have a grided pattern to it and the possiblity for in-fill to cover the lots is apparent. The question is will the city and the developer be willing to make the adjustments and push for more density on that parcel of land?
April 30, 2008, 10:07 am
Re: Redefining the Mall in the name of Urbanism
Wow - this is one of the best articles I've seen in a while. Nice job.
Let's see if the media picks up on this.
April 30, 2008, 10:23 am
Re: Redefining the Mall in the name of Urbanism
Examples of new suburban projects incorporating New Urbanism in Charlotte and Atlanta:
a new apartment complex and strip retail shops
public mini storage warehouse
a strip shopping center anchored by a Harris Teeter grocery store
the retail buildings and grocery store are located between the street/sidewalk and surface parking lot (same density as typical suburban Jax retail center, but different way of laying out the components (building, parking, sidewalks,etc.)
a Kroger anchored strip center in Atlanta. The building sits between the street and sidewalk
full article: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/484/118/
Yes, in the same fashion that infill can happen with a traditional mall or Tinseltown's parking lot. However, its highly unrealistic and would take decades during good economic times to ultimately pull off. In the meantime, the general surrounding area chokes off the sprawl its created and the infrastructure fails to support a type of development it really never could from the start.
This is why its important for local media, residents and city officials to not confuse this type of development with New Urbanism or continue to accept setting to lower standards of development. If the principles are clearly understood and applied from the beginning, we end up with good development the start as opposed to waiting for the newly created surface lots fill in 20 years down the line.
April 30, 2008, 10:51 am
Re: Redefining the Mall in the name of Urbanism
I agree 100% with this article. First, I feel that suburban greenfield developments such as SJTC function as dressed-up sprawl. Jacksonville's major employment center is downtown, and its pretty clear that people still commute downtown from SJTC. These projects may reduce internal trips, but people will still commute to go to work. Creating a shopping center with a housing component should not be confused with creating a community.
April 30, 2008, 12:33 pm
Re: Redefining the Mall in the name of Urbanism
Lake-- road access in and out of Georgetown is one gated exit, but there's a foot-bridge connecting Phase I with (the as-yet unconstructed) Phase II and a pedestrian-scale entrance to the corner of the TC between Staples and Target. Not ideal, to be sure. But not compeltely hateful either. :-)
April 30, 2008, 2:52 pm
Re: Redefining the Mall in the name of Urbanism
You can see the general layout of Georgetown behind SJTC and Publix. It has nothing to do with New Urbanism, but it shortens the walk from Georgetown residents to Target or Petsmart. You can also see where it would have made sense to extend SJTC's main drag, north of Target to exit out on the street that serves as Georgetown's entrance.
April 30, 2008, 4:41 pm
Re: Redefining the Mall in the name of Urbanism
To me, these are downtowns away from the traditional downtown and town centers. Designed to cater to those some distance away or far away from the Central City so they will have their own "downtown" or central city center so to speak.
Heights Unknown
April 30, 2008, 5:24 pm
Re: Redefining the Mall in the name of Urbanism
Heights, in your opinion, what features about a lifestyle center make them more of a downtown "away" from the Central City moreso than a traditional regional mall like Regency, Orange Park or the Avenues?
May 1, 2008, 9:07 am
Re: Redefining the Mall in the name of Urbanism
In regard to the Tapestry Park comment:
I've been watching that place, and while I agree it's not going to be much of an impact (too few homes for the number of people working in the area), I also think it's a step in the right direction. At least the developers did the right thing by recognizing EXISTING businesses that employ a great number of residents and then created the shopping and living based on that rather than a place like Nocatee which is trying to create a place that, lol, businesses would pack up and move to.
I, too, like the way it is closed off from Southside which keeps the shopping traffic down. The shopping 'district' has tight parking (parallel) and the storefronts are relatively close to one another (as they face each other). It appears to be set up to be very much pedestrian-friendly and if you work at Blue Cross/Blue Shield or Merrill Lynch, living there would be ideal as you wouldn't have to drive anywhere.
May 1, 2008, 9:15 am
Re: Redefining the Mall in the name of Urbanism
The negative effect of not having a direct entry off Southside, is that it hurts Tapestry Park's retail segment's visibility. Retail there will have to really depend on attracting workers from the nearby Merrill Lynch/BCBS campuses and the new hotel. The service oriented businesses should be okay, because many don't rely on drive by traffic. Nevertheless, if every development in the Southside was designed like Tapestry Park, that area would be a lot better off. To do so on a grand scale, is where we need a planning department that recognizes the differences and benefits of real New Urbanism vs. repackaged shopping malls.
May 1, 2008, 9:16 am
Re: Redefining the Mall in the name of Urbanism
Dr. K. Hope your stop in Georgetown is a temporary one until you can make it downtown? Is affordability the reason you chose it over a downtown area? If it is, you should have done a bit more digging before buying. Being an urbanist and buying at SJTC is like being an environmentalist who doesn't recycle.
One more minor sticking point -- an anachronism has to do with historical context. I think the term you were looking for was "paradox."
May 1, 2008, 10:49 am
Re: Redefining the Mall in the name of Urbanism
I stand corrected, Zoo - thanks for the appropriate verbage. Being a History major (not nearly as astute or learned as Ock, of course
Honestly, it was the amenities other stuff that the builder was willing to throw in at Georgetown that got our attention - breaks on H.O.A. fees, upgrades, etc - because in the current market, Seda was so desperate to sell the housing stock.
Above and beyond that, it's perfect for us because it's so close to 9A, which is crucial for us and our multiple jobs. In this case, the paradoxical idealistic/wannabee-urbanist, living amidst the sprawl (kind of silly, I'll admit), is glad to have easy access to freeways. The location is ideal for the commute to our lives/jobs on the Southside, Doctor's Lake, Fort Caroline, and Arlington. Thank you inner beltway! BTW, I'd had my heart set on Berkman since the day Phase I broke ground, but that wasn't reasonable given our 'other factors.' One day, ideally, I'd love to be in the core.
On a lighter note, since my neighborhood doesn't yet have a recycling deal in place, I regularly trot down to Philips/Baymeadows with trunkfuls of recyclables.
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