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February 2018 — Retail Properties Quarterly — Page 25
Retail Highlight
past – you’re putting up drywall, you’re
painting it; you’re putting up ceiling
tiles; you’re putting in light fixtures;
all that type of stuff, which is all the
same, but in a completely different
sequence of work and timeframe.”
The biggest challenge from a project
management perspective was securing
the manpower, he said. They needed
to get enough tradesmen to the site at
a very quick pace in order to meet the
project’s outlined goal to be reopened
before Black Friday. Not only were
they dealing with an extremely tight
construction labor market, but also
the project required work in practi-
cally every part of the retail center. The
most in-demand trade: drywallers. At
times, there were over 350 drywallers
on site, he said.
At the busiest times of the proj-
ect, fromAugust through the mall’s
reopening, there were more than 550
workers on site. Overseeing all of that
was a team of about 18 supervisors,
project managers and safety crew
members. Since reopening in Novem-
ber, the numbers have come down
quite a bit, but there still are crews
on-site finishing the project, Chisholm
said.
After the storm, a temporary roof
was immediately deployed. A perma-
nent new roof is now nearing comple-
tion; it features a better hail protection
system than the original 2002 roof.
Remarkably, only four of the more than
100 original skylights were damaged
and needed to be replaced.
The interior of the mall is nearing
completion as well, with flooring in
the common areas accounting for the
final step. The original wood, carpet
and concrete floors are being replaced
with tile and carpet, along with a few
designated polished concrete sections,
Chisholm said.
“Work on the common areas will
continue during evening hours extend-
ing into 2018, and more retailers will
open during this timeline,” Morris said.
“As a result of the storm restoration,
the new concept for Colorado Mills will
provide a refreshed, contemporary look
while still preserving some of its legacy
features.”
Between the common areas and
tenant spaces, the construction crews
hung over 200,000 sheets of drywall,
replaced more than 12,435 light fix-
tures, replaced 100,000 ceiling tiles
and painted more than 7.5 million sf
of wall space, according to The Beck
Group.
The exterior of the shopping center
will be the final step in the restora-
tion project. This will ramp up as the
weather gets nicer and is slated to
be completed by the second quarter,
Chisholm said.
The shopping center owner was
thrilled to reopen with the support
of more than 100 stores and eater-
ies, which have been opening on a
rolling basis since Nov. 21, Morris
said. “As the largest outlet and value
retail shopping destination in the
state, additional retailers will open
throughout 2018 to return us to pre-
storm occupancy closer to 200 stores
and restaurants,” he said.
Several of the tenants with exte-
rior entrances reopened earlier than
Nov. 21 – with the SuperTarget and
the United Artist movie theater lead-
ing the pack. Meanwhile, a few inte-
rior tenants opted to take the time
to do a full redesign and have yet to
open. The center’s website and social
media accounts share more infor-
mation on which tenants are open.
All said, the timeline from the
closing to reopening is something
with which everyone is proud to be
associated.
“Our team at Simon and Colo-
rado Mills worked incredibly hard
to reopen the center and continues
to be dedicated every day,” Morris
said. “We are so grateful to our team,
partners and community for work-
ing with us through this process. We
look forward to holding a celebration
once all work is complete.”
One silver lining coming from
the project is realizing what can be
accomplished when you put your
mind to something. “We got a lot of
work done in a really short amount
of time,” said Chisholm. “We – the
Beck team and the 500-plus trade
workers who were working their
tails off out here – were all amazed
by what we accomplished.”V
Construction statistics from Colorado Mills restoration project
The effort to reopen Colorado Mills involved a massive undertaking, high-
lighted by Simon Property Group and The Beck Group’s shared project statis-
tics. The project required:
• Building the new roof, which is the size of 21 football fields;
• Replacing over 100,000 ceiling tiles, which if they were lined up side by
side would span from Denver to Colorado Springs;
• Hanging more than 200,000 sheets of drywall, which is equivalent to 183
acres;
• Painting more than 7.5 million square feet of wall space, which is like
painting 14,285 average-sized bedrooms; and
• Replacing 12,435 light fixtures.
Remarkably, of the more than 100 skylights in the mall, only four had to be replaced.