CREJ - Retail Properties Quarterly - May 2016
River North, Lower Downtown and Highlands are all thriving community hubs that once were blighted backwaters in Denver. Denver’s invasion of millennials searching for cool, creative places to live and work propelled these once-overlooked communities into today’s spotlight. Mix well-educated young professionals with disposable income into a neighborhood and voila – retail sprouts up to feed their needs. But surely, this magic of new community only happens in urban cores, and not in the suburbs. In the ’burbs, people spend their free time getting kids ready for school, racing from one sporting event to another, fighting to carve out time to exercise and serve up a decent family meal, right? Not so, I say! For years, residents of Longmont had few choices but to drive to Boulder or neighboring communities to dine, celebrate and be entertained. But this is no longer the case after the opening of the 500,000-square-foot Village at the Peaks. The development sits on the ruins of a dead mall and has made Longmont residents buzz with new community pride and a reinvigorated identity. This sounds good, but how do you create an authentic sense of community where it has declined or died? We do it by focusing on these basics: Do the homework, create the partnerships, attract merchants who fit the community’s vision, and create authentic spaces where fun and memories happen organically. 1. Do your homework. Not only did Longmont citizens need to replace the retail void from a dead mall, but also they wanted a gathering place to call their own. In order to understand the residents’ dreams, ideas and concerns about our project, we set out to gather data from thousands of them. We held five open houses over six months, conducted a statistically relevant preference poll, and met with the Chamber, Rotary and individual residents. Listening carefully, refining our understanding and exploring new ideas were all part of the relentless quest to create an authentic community vision for the projects. We tested design, amenities, needs and desires across multiple spectrums of the community to include varied ethnic, age, educational and income levels. We synthesized this invaluable community feedback into revised plans and went back through the process over and over as we began creating design, layout and amenity plans. 2. Create key partnerships. Don’t try to go it alone. A $90 million redevelopment would only succeed if a wide community cross section embraced it. We began with a city council gut check. Not only did the Longmont City Council share our vision, but also they backed it up when it was time to make some difficult and potentially unpopular decisions. We also engaged key influencers, from the school district to nonprofits, who are part of the fabric of the community to help us envision an authentic experience true to Longmont’s culture. 3. Merchandise to the vision. The goal as developers is not merely filling space or maximizing rents. It’s targeting the key merchants who buy into the vision, support its fulfillment and create the synergy that leads to consistently high sales volumes. Our anchor trifecta was based on direct community polling, which revealed the top desires to be a natural grocery store, modern movie theater and large-format discounter. So, we targeted Whole Foods, Regal Cinema and Sam’s Club. Once these anchors committed, we focused on retailers that mirrored what the community valued and provided premium experiences in their categories. A full-service Gold’s Gym, Sports Authority and Ripple Effect Karate Studio answered the call for support of active lifestyles. Chuck & Don’s caters to the needs of pet-centric Longmont residents’ furry family members. The locally owned fine wine merchant, Wyatt’s, and Boulder-based Ozo Coffee are providing the quality and selection that Longmont requested. The dining venues were selected to provide experiences to keep Longmonters in their own town, including Colorado’s first Le Madeleine Country French Café. We sprinkled in family oriented services like VisionWorks, Mathnasium and Brain Balance. It is believed this tenant mix creates a more Internet-resistant assortment of merchandise and experiences. 4. Create authentic spaces. The project has stunning views of the Front Range from multiple vantage points, because we learned early on that Longmont citizens identify with the rugged beauty of the Rockies. The Mulhern Group helped us translate this into a design themed around the look and feel of America’s great national parks by incorporating post-and-beam wooden entries, extensive stone-faced facades, two large fireplaces, custom lanterns, a steel span arch announcing the village, a water feature and more than 100 tons of boulders. The community’s desire for authentic experiences and spaces are being answered and the response has been amazing. Village at the Peaks is becoming a cornerstone for life and memory-making events, which have been attended by thousands of Longmont residents. From weddings to new merchant celebrations to hours spent cozying up at our fireplaces, Longmont now has a community living space to call home. To top it off, many of the merchants are celebrating their best or second-best opening in the state, and community partners are asking how to use the village for their events and activities. The process isn’t easy, but it does work. We discovered that cool community experiences aren’t just for urbanites. Studying, listening and engaging Longmont residents led to the whole of the project being far greater than the sum of its parts. The ’burbs are hungry for cool places they can call their own. It’s up to us to understand and create them.