September 2015 — Retail Properties Quarterly —
Page 19
Street and upcoming develop-
ments like East Bridge at Sta-
pleton, restaurants trigger the
activity and generate a sense of
community and place. Now we
are seeing traditional retailers
coming in to fill in the gaps.
For instance, Natural Grocers
is opening up a new location
at 38th Avenue and Tennyson
Street, the central point of the
Highlands. Traditional retail
and restaurants not only can
coexist, but also can create
synergy for neighborhoods,
consumers, developers and
landlords. Both types of retail-
ers are necessary and essential
for a well-balanced shopping
center and community.
With artful planning and
architecture, all tenants can
coexist. Union Station is a
great example. Chef-driven
restaurants like Mercantile
and Stoic & Genuine create
enthusiasm and a place for
new residents to dine, and ser-
vice providers likeWells Fargo
and King Soopers provide key
conveniences to an area starv-
ing for services. Restaurants
generate gathering places and
define communities and cul-
tures. Traditional retailers help
balance the risk, can allevi-
ate parking issues and, most
importantly, provide the nec-
essary conveniences consum-
ers notice only when they are
not readily available. Despite
the talk centered on new
restaurants, traditional retail
proves it is just as important
to both established neighbor-
hoods and new developments.
After all, we all need more
than a craft beer and great
cheeseburger to survive.
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owner lose all control and
cannot take any action on
your own if their solution
is failing. In fact, one prop-
erty recently told a national
customer of ours that they
were prohibited from putting
in their own charging sta-
tion at their own cost due to
an exclusivity clause with a
third-party provider, regard-
less of the fact that the other
station would have been too
far of a walk to use conve-
niently. At another retailer, a
third-party station has been
out of order for nine months
with no repair in sight.
Then there is the issue of
image. Overpriced charging
fees paint your store or shop-
ping center as being greedy
and unreasonable, since the
driver may not realize it is
really a third-party station
owner setting the price. For
the same reason your store
wouldn’t let a vendor charge
$10 per session for Wi-Fi or
$15 per child for the play
area. If you did, why would
you bother having those
amenities in the first place?
If station management is
the concern driving you to
consider third-party own-
ership, a better strategy is
to find a charging station
reseller that offers station
management and mainte-
nance services for a reason-
able annual fee. This way you
retain control and receive the
benefits of having a station,
while outsourcing the day-to-
day oversight.
While third-party owner-
ship of EV charging stations
on your site may seem like
a great deal at first, the fact
is that the host site rarely
receives the promised benefit
because the goals of attract-
ing shoppers while extracting
substantial charging revenue
from them at the same time
are incompatible. In the end,
a third-party EV station can
end up being detrimental to
those shoppers who are elec-
tric car drivers, and an unfor-
tunate exercise in “green-
washing” for your property.
s
here we have fallen in love
with connected picnic tables.
Not only are these types of
seating arrangements hard
to get into and out of, they
also are awkward to use with
the exception of one purpose,
eating. Portable chairs and
tables are the rage up and
down the coasts because it
makes it easy for people to
hang out, collaborate and
gather in public spaces.
My thought is, in a retail
and restaurant environment,
you are either sitting, wait-
ing, watching or on the move.
Colorado has embraced art
in public spaces, but could
take a cue from our coastal
neighbors and embrace pub-
lic space as art. Funky public
furniture, unique objects
and cool visuals that lend
themselves to photo ops and
selfies makes sitting, wait-
ing and watching much more
interesting – not to mention
increasing the linger value,
which increases traffic and
the opportunity for sales.
One area that Colorado,
and especially Denver, has
focused on is transporta-
tion outside of cars. Like the
East and West Coasts, we
are starting to view walk-
ing and cycling as important
modes of transportation. But
moving between neighbor-
hoods, retail districts and
restaurants can be a chal-
lenge when sidewalks are
narrow, damaged or missing.
The same can be said if the
space adjoining the side-
walk is threatening, unsafe
and unappealing. Perhaps
we can turn the tables here
on our East and West Coast
friends and lead them by
creating pedestrian-friendly
environments and restaurant
bike parking that serves its
intended purpose.
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Photo courtesy: Streetscapes
An example of a parklet in Louisville, Colorado.
