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Peter
Corbett for The Arizona Republic
Mar. 23, 2007 12:00 AM
To look at the conceptual
images of
CityNorth and other planned retail centers in the Northeast
Valley it's clear that developers are trying to out-Kierland,
Kierland Commons.
Scottsdale Crossing, just east of
Kierland, was originally hyped as Kierland Uncommon, a
similar mixed-use project of retail, offices and condos that
would have an even higher tier of luxury retailers than its
western neighbor.
In its infancy seven years ago, it quickly became clear that
Woodbine Southwest Corp. had hit the mark at Kierland Commons
with its mix of exclusive fashion retailers, unique restaurants,
offices and luxury lofts in a kind of idealized American main
street.
Now,
CityNorth, Scottsdale Crossing,
Palisene and
One Scottsdale all are lined up using a similar template,
but trying to improve on Kierland and do it on a bigger scale.
In an ongoing retail border war, the four planned centers could
add a combined 3.2 million square feet of retail to the 2.98
million already existing in four northern shopping centers near
the Phoenix-Scottsdale border.
Scott Nelson, a vice president for Westcor, the
Palisene developer, worries that too much retail will be
built to serve the well-heeled Northeast Valley population.
"You need a critical mass of retailers," he said. "We don't want
to end up like north Dallas that has four centers, none of which
is amazing because they split the retailers."
Given that caveat, Westcor is still moving ahead with its plans
for Palisene. The Valley mall giant, a subsidiary of the
Macerich Co., is expected to bid on leasing the Palisene site
later this year when it is auctioned by the Arizona State Land
Department.
The Thomas J. Klutznick Co., developing CityNorth, has its
contractor doing site improvements on the 144-acre site, nearly
four times larger than Kierland Commons. Vertical construction
is expected to start soon on 11 buildings in the first phase of
the project.
That will include CityNorth's High Street area. The 1,200-foot
stretch of buildings of three and four stories will include
retail shops and restaurants at street level, with offices and
condominiums on the upper floors, said Klutznick executive John
Klutznick.
CityNorth has already signed Nordstrom as an anchor for the
project. The 144,000-square-foot department store is set to open
in fall 2009.
Klutznick said CityNorth is modeled after Newberry Street in
Boston and Oak Street in Chicago, both of which are the Rodeo
Drives of their respective cities, with top luxury retailers,
boutiques and one-of-kind restaurants.
This article was found at:
http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/0323sr-borderwars0323insideZ3.html
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