3 malls carve out distinct identities

By CHUIN-WEI YAP
Published August 10, 2007

WESLEY CHAPEL - Dennis Smith moved here eight years ago from Virginia, in search of a place where the weather was warm and the traffic was easy.

He never expected three malls, on his doorstep, all set to open within a year of each other.

Each one located at most a five-minute drive from each other, the Shops at Wiregrass, Cypress Creek Town Center and the Grove at Wesley Chapel together stake out enough central Pasco land to cover 44 football fields.

"I would like to go to Best Buy up here rather than Brandon," Smith said. "But I don't go to Best Buy that often."

They're all marketed as "lifestyle centers," a retail industry label that evokes outdoor layouts and traditional streetscapes.

But revelations of their potential tenant line-ups make it clear that each is carving out a different retail niche.

Experts say it's not strange to have three large malls so close together. But the close timing of their appearance is raising some eyebrows and questions.

"They all clearly have enough growth to sell to retailers," said Judi Lapin, president of the Lapin Consulting Group, a retail industry adviser based in California. "But they will have to struggle to get a foothold because of the timing."

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Recent Pasco County filings show the $105-million Shops at Wiregrass, developed by Forest City Enterprises and the Goodman Co., with an unconfirmed slate of 60 tenants for their mall at State Road 56 and Bruce B. Downs Boulevard.

Anchored by JCPenney and Dillard's, the rest of the space is an array of higher-end, smaller-sized stores like Barnes & Noble, Apple, Victoria's Secret and Banana Republic. Aside from Barnes & Noble, the smaller stores generally range from 1,000 to 20,000 square feet.

Three miles west, the Richard E. Jacobs Group's Cypress Creek Town Center has confirmed an 18-screen AMC multiplex. Real estate brokers' brochures suggest it will be joined by Costco, Kohl's, SuperTarget, Circuit City, Books-A-Million and Sports Authority.

Three miles up Interstate 75, the Grove at Wesley Chapel has signed leases with Bed, Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, Dick's Sporting Goods, ULTA Cosmetics, PetSmart, Michaels craft store and Ross Stores. Negotiations are ongoing with Toys "R" Us, Babies "R" Us and T.J. Maxx, says developer Echo Real Estate Services.

To industry consultant Stan Eichelbaum, Wiregrass sounds like it's cast more in the "traditional" mold of a lifestyle center, concentrating on specialty stores.

The Grove appears to be aiming for a "big box campus," and Cypress Creek Town Center a hybrid of the two.

"Two developers going the specialty route are likely to suffer devaluation, which can reduce lease values by 18 to 31 percent," Eichelbaum said.

At about 200,000 square feet each, just two big boxes like Costco and SuperTarget at Cypress Creek could house most of the stores at Wiregrass.

The difference could be in branding, with Wiregrass developers apparently working to line up names like Apple and Williams-Sonoma.

The stores at the Grove, like Best Buy and Dick's, typically are 20,000 to 50,000 square feet.

Chuin-Wei Yap can be reached at 813 909-4613 or cyap@sptimes.com.