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Developer unveils plan to remake mall in Billings, Mont.
(Billings Gazette (MT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Oct. 6--Washington state developer Bob McDonald said the West Park Plaza mall is broken and he's the man to fix it.
After unfurling bulky drawings illustrating the remake of Billings' first mall, McDonald pointed to a 150-foot-wide swath he's going to carve out of the middle of the mall, just west of the current Hastings Books Music & Videos.
The interior of the mall will be converted into an old-fashioned "Main Street" where cars can park and pedestrians can sit at tables or window shop.
"The mall hasn't worked in 20 years. You can shoot a gun in there," McDonald said. "I think the best thing to do is to de-mall the mall."
He's not the first to propose knocking down the middle of the mall so more stores can have exterior windows and access. The previous owner, California-based Western Development Partners, first proposed the "de-malling" concept. After buying the property in June 21, 2007, Western Development officials promised to spend up to $15 million to transform the mall that dates back half a century. However, the developers apparently failed to land a big fish tenant and sold out to McDonald before making any major improvements.
"I think they were looking for a 75,000 square-foot or an 80,000 square-foot tenant to anchor the west end of the mall and they're hard to come by," McDonald said.
Like sheep, big box stores follow each other around and land at the same location. McDonald's plan is to attract smaller quality retailers.
This remake will be done in two phrases. By late April or early May of 2009, Hastings and another tenant or two will move into the former Albertsons/Smith's Food & Drug Center. Hastings will stay in the Albertsons wing and will be redesigned into the latest prototype where books, videos and music are grouped together in color-coded settings.
Most of the existing tenants will stay put, but all of the exterior storefronts will be redone.
In phase two, the demolition and remodeling efforts will start. All the interiors, save Sears, will be remodeled, including new electrical and heating, ventilating and air conditioning. The three other long-time anchors, Sears, Roebuck & Co; Oz Fitness and CVS Pharmacy will stay in the same locations.
After leasing space for years at West Park, last year Sears purchased its building and six acres of land.
"Sears told us they want an entrance to our 16th Street Main Street, but at this point they have no plans to redevelop their store," said Jeff Kanning, a partner at Collaborative Design Architects, who is designing McDonald's project.
The sales price wasn't disclosed, but McDonald said Western Development was asking for $12 million and he didn't pay that.
"They were screaming and hollering at the end, but they still signed the papers. Good thing, too, because three weeks later I probably wouldn't have gotten the financing from Rocky Mountain Bank given the current economic conditions," he said.
Billings with its large trade area and diverse economy seems to be sheltered from the current national financial shocks, he said, and the existing tenants provide a revenue stream even though only 54 percent of the mall space is occupied.
McDonald said he plans on investing $12 million to $13 million on top of his purchase price when the remodeling is completed at the end of 2009.
The previous owner hired a Denver architect, but McDonald went local, hiring Collaborative Design, Langlas & Associates as the general contractor and Mike Walker of NAI Business Properties.
"Life's too short to get the lowest bidder," he said. "We want quality and they have good experience in commercial design and leasing."
When the "de-malling" is completed, West Park could have as few as 15 tenants or as many at 25 tenants, depending on how much space each individual business needs. Since there are grocery stores in the "hood" already, McDonald hopes to attract a few delis or specialty outlets like health food stores.
When shopping malls came along, they hurt downtown shopping areas, Kanning said. Then power centers like Marketplace hurt the malls. Now events have come full circle and some of the malls are returning to the Main Street concept with store fronts, benches, landscaping.
When West Park becomes this kind of lifestyle mall, Kanning said he hopes his daughter and her friends will shop there.
"Without change, there has been no growth at West Plaza for the last 15 years or will be for the next 15 years," Kanning said. "We're going to totally change the look of this place. The wedding cake look will be gone."
"Main Street" will be friendly to walkers and bikers, he said, and there are plenty of them around in that area considered the most densely populated in Billings. Also, an average of 19,590 cars and trucks a day pass by the Grand Avenue and 17th Street West intersection.
The area between 17th Street West and 13th Street West is hot, said Walker at NAI Business Properties. The Mustard Seed, United Blood Services, City Brew, Walgreen's, Prestige Toyota and other businesses have flocked to this section of Grand in recent years or rebuilt their stores.
Adding a street will cut the mall's interior space by 30,000-square-feet, leaving West Park with about 175,000-square-feet.
"We'll gain exterior access. The synergy will be better, which should be good for everyone," McDonald said.
Because the center of the mall will be gone, retail store owners will no longer have to pay for common-area expenses like heating and cooling, cleaning and security and they won't be required to stay open certain hours. However, given his multi-million-dollar investment, rents eventually will have to rise, McDonald said.
Also, two new retail buildings with a total of 13,000 square-feet of space are planned on either side of the 16th Street West entrance along Grand.
In the early 1980s, McDonald worked at a large development company, Birtcher, McDonald Frank, which helped build Microsoft's campus outside Seattle. He left that company in 1986 and since then he and his silent partner have been building malls, office complexes and other projects in Washington State and Oregon.
After 34 years in the development business, McDonald said he's learned to buy right so he can weather the inevitable construction headaches.
"Most of the time, these projects are elective cosmetic surgeries rather than protracted brain surgery," he said. "This one maybe is a little more involved in this respect."
To see more of the Billings Gazette, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.billingsgazette.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, Billings Gazette, Mont.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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