Retail Forecast 2005
by Charla Keiser and Bill Gladstone


While retail real estate has been fluctuating in the last few years, there are some promising new trends for 2005. The Harrisburg metro area is a tertiary market, but it has more than a dozen large malls and shopping centers, and the area may be seeing some interesting new features during the next year as vacancy rates shrink.

The “big box” players will continue to be Wal-Mart, Target, BassPro, and Kohl’s, according to Bob Rusing, Director of Leasing for Feldman Equities. Nancy Mozzachio, Director of Leasing for Cedar Shopping Centers, added that Home Depot and Lowes will still be “big box” tenants as well. These large companies have held their positions over the last few years and continue to expand.

In addition to the large destination malls will be new concepts like “cafe shops,” or street front retail that offers a “lifestyle component” to a retail center, according to Rusing. National tenants will be sprouting stores that haven’t been seen before. Mozzachio expects to see growth in the discount variety chains and fill more secondary anchor spots with such stores.

That expansion of those power centers or the specialization of lifestyle centers leaves the malls in the middle out of luck. “That’s not where development is going these days,” says Mozzachio.

“Redevelopment of malls is a big thing right now,” says Rusing. Feldman Equities purchases B or B+ malls nationally to redevelop into type A buildings. The current Harrisburg project is the East Mall, which was purchased about 14 months ago. Since then, 2 acres have been added with Boscovs and Bass Pro, the outside entrances, parking lots, lighting, and signage have been renovated, and an interior water feature and food court has been constructed. The changes have cost approximately $40 million, and there are additional projects in the planning stages. A “streetscape” will be added to provide the lifestyle component for the “Cafe Shops at the Harrisburg Mall.”

Cedar Shopping Center’s portfolio consists mostly of redevelopment projects as well, within Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland. Older centers with fewer tenants are purchased to be redeveloped. Cedar Shopping Center is currently working with Giant and Staples on stores under construction at the Camp Hill Mall, changing it from a mall back to a shopping center.

Copyright 2005 BillGladsone.com. All Rights Reserved.

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