01/09/2008
Mall officials have been talking to South Portland officials about a five-store shopping center anchored by "a major bookseller," said Tex Haeuser, director of the city's planning department.
General Growth Properties, the company that owns the mall, has not submitted any formal plans yet, he said.
The new shopping center will essentially complete the retail development of properties directly adjacent to the mall. Haeuser said the only other significant open parcels in the immediate area are at Sable Oaks, about a half-mile from the mall off Running Hill Road, and a 10-acre site off John Roberts Road, near the Home Depot store and Gorham Road.
"By and large, we're into redevelopment at this point," rather than new construction near the mall, he said.
"Lifestyle" malls are currently the most popular form of shopping center nationally. They consist of stores clustered around a large parking area, without indoor passages, like the shopping center anchored by Target not far from the mall.
General Growth had been planning to move the Best Buy and David's Bridal stores from the mall to the 5.7-acre site and build a new entrance to the mall, but then shelved that plan. Jim Graham, a spokesman for General Growth, said he doesn't know why the plans were changed, but he confirmed the company is looking to develop land across Maine Mall Road.
He said an anchor tenant, three to four specialty stores and a restaurant or two are likely, but he declined to name potential tenants.
He said the company hopes to begin work in the fall.
Graham also said the company is working on filling the space underneath the Sports Authority, where Filene's had a furniture and men's clothing store. Two "national retail tenants," whom Graham also declined to identify, have a "strong, sincere interest" in splitting that space, he said.
General Growth also wants to build a 14-screen movie theater in the space formerly occupied by Filene's main store, but that plan is being held up by a lawsuit filed by Joseph Soley, who owns the Shops at Clark's Pond and Cornerbrook Plaza.
Soley contends the South Portland Appeals Board did not follow its rules when it allowed General Growth to reduce the number of mall parking spaces to make way for the movie theater, two restaurants and an expansion of J.C. Penney.
General Growth had hoped to start demolition of the former Filene's store last summer as the opening phase of the project, but work has been delayed because of the suit.
The continued level of interest around the mall reflects how attractive the area remains to retailers nearly 40 years after the first store sprung up where woods and a pig farm had been located, said Greg Boulos of CB Richard Ellis/The Boulos Co.
"Retailers who come into the state come to the Maine Mall area first and from there ... they'll go up to Augusta, Lewiston, Auburn," he said. "You would think that there would be an end in sight, but I just haven't seen it. At some point, it's got to reach a saturation point."
Boulos said the geographic definition of the mall area continues to grow and now stretches down Payne Road. Eventually, he expects stores to be built on that road along Interstate 95 from the mall to Maine Turnpike Exit 42, where Cabela's is building a huge store.
Scarborough is definitely on retailers' radar, said Harvey Rosenfeld, president and executive director of the Scarborough Economic Development Corp.
"We're starting to see a lot more interest in Scarborough from current mall residents, and new businesses coming into Maine are seeming to be looking at Scarborough," he said.
Part of that is due to the development centered around Cabela's, which is building a 130,000-square-foot hunting and fishing store.
"Cabela's is really the catalyst, and they're talking about 4 million visitors a year, which is obviously attractive to other retailers," he said.
However, Scarborough hasn't extended sewer lines to all of Payne Road, Rosenfeld said, and the town would like to see offices and light industrial or research centers along Haigis Parkway.
Joe Malone of Malone Commercial Brokers said mall development over the next few years is likely to be smaller scale than the "big boxes."
With new stores popping up around the state, retailing in Maine has grown at a much faster pace than the population, so the state is now less attractive to high-volume merchants, he said.
"When you add up the number of square feet that have been added to that market, from Biddeford to Augusta to Bangor, it's staggering," Malone said.
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How about a multi level parking garage and a 2 story mall.report abuse
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