Penn Square continues upscale move

[Patrick]

See, that explains part of the difference between Simon, owner of Woodland Hills, and H&P, owner of Utica. Simon has a lot more leverage when it comes to attracting retail to fill its property because they have so many national tenants in their portfolio. Afterall, Simon is the largest mall owner in the nation. H&P's specialty just isn't retail, although they seem to do a mighty fine job of it at Utica Square. Simon doesn't really have to work too hard when they want to locate a store in one of their malls. They work with the retailers day after day, and when they want a certain retailer in their mall, they just go to that retailer with a proposal to put stores in say 20 Simon malls, and it's a done deal, depnding on demographic studies and all of course! Of course, local mall managers make the final decision over the tenants that locate in their malls and it's far more complex than that, but with Simon as their backing it makes it easier. For example, I think the mall manager at Penn Square is a tad bit more picky than the mall manager at Woodland Hills. There are a few long-term stores I've seen at Woodland Hills that probably wouldn't make it to Penn Square. Penn Square is even far pickier than Quail. For example, a new local "A- Dollar" store recently moved in at Quail. Such a store would never open at Penn Square, not with the way that mallis managed. That doesn't mean Penn Square's manager doesn't allow short term leases though...I think all shopping centers allow short term now, because it provides rent while the manager is looking for a new long-term tenant for the space.
Anyways, Simon's specialty is retail.....that's why they're so good at it! Same with General Growth Properties, owner of Quail and Promenade.

Note though that mall location and mall demographics play a role too......just look at Heritage Park Mall and Eastland Mall...both are Simon malls, but demographics work against them there. Same with Shawnee Mall and their owner General Growth Properties.
Even though the malls are owned by national mall managing companies, they're hard to lease because of the surrounding communities.

[Nuclear_2525]

I agree. The only reason Utica does so well is because it has a name. Utica is on the same level with Knoxville St. in Dallas. When I go to Dallas to visit friends, they all know about Utica and it's one of their fav places to shop. It's not the shops that make it, because I'm sure Dallas has all of the same ones, but they like it so much because of how its laid out, the huge trees, the restaurants, the 5th night concert series especially, and the entire surrounding area has just become very upscale and affluent.

OKC is accomplishing national recognition with the growth rate and popularity of Bricktown. Now all OKC needs is a nationally known shopping district.

[floater]

Well, if town center-type district occurs downtown, I don't think it will include the standard Banana Republics and J.C. Penneys. Other less common retail names like Crate and Barrel, Anthropologie, and The Container Store will happen there.

[Patrick]

I agree with you about Utica Square. Although Utica does have some unique national retailers that aren't found anywhere else in the state or city (like Saks), many of the retailers there can be found elsewhere, even at Woodland Hills. But, what makes Utica so special is the way it's landscaped, the overall appearance of the property, the way it's arranged, etc. Even the old fashioned phone booths give Utica Square flavor! It's just a very upscale, cozy area!

I agree that OKC needs a nationally known shopping area! Edmond has developed one......Spring Creek....but that's Edmond! We need one similar in nature. Give it time.....I think eventually we'll have something like that downtown! Maybe even in Bricktown. That's one way we could distinguish ourselves from San Antonio....SA has a mall on their Riverwalk! We could have a nice shopping village. Several years ago on another forum I suggested a small shopping village as one of the nodes for the Bricktown canal. I still thinkit would be a great idea! An arts and crafts village would be nice too!

[Patrick]

I agree with floater......I don't think you're necessarily going to see large national retailers downtown. More, smaller, unique and upscale specialty shops.

[BG918]

I can't see Bricktown ever being an upscale shopping area, but rather a place with a wide variety of retail. Some kind of department store would do great near the movie theater, and a mix of local and national chains would really benefit the area.

Stores like Coach, Armani Exchange, etc. would fit into Penn Square a lot better than they would somewhere in Bricktown. Doesn't Nichols Hills have an upscale shopping center?

[HOT ROD]

OKC is accomplishing national recognition with the growth rate and popularity of Bricktown. Now all OKC needs is a nationally known shopping district.

downtown Shopping District, plz.

[Patrick]

I agree to some extent with BG918. I think Bricktown will probably be best offering a mix of retail types, because unfortunately the market there just doesn't support a complete upscale center, at least for now. That was proven by PF Chang's turning down Bricktown for an area out on Memorial Road (although I didn't think that was a real good choice either....come on...in a strip mall.....give me a break! I think PF Chang's would've fit better on one of th Penn Square outparcels.) Anyways, with Penn Square being so close to downtown, for the time being anyways, it will probably continue to dominate the upscale market. It has Nichols Hills drawing the tenants. In addition, Nichols Hills Plaza has attracted several upscale tenants, as has Spring Creek Plaza in Edmond.

Regardless though, I'd still like to see a mix of shops downtown. I have no problem with that. A Utica type development with a mix of upscale, traditional national retailers, and local stores would be great for the area........I think the local stores would probably be the best, since we are trying to market the area for tourists......the more unique the better. We have to remember....these tourists have JC Penny and Dillards back home!