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Upscale mall sits pretty after year
By MARK ALBRIGHT, Times Staff Writer TAMPA -- In the lengthy history of mall builder Taubman Centers Inc., the star-crossed grand opening of International Plaza is known as the one where everything that could go wrong did go wrong. First, a recession turned shoppers frugal after a decadelong spending binge. Three days before the ribbon-cutting the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 left the nation stunned. Then, on opening day, a year ago today, civil emergency officials warned shoppers to stay home because Tropical Storm Gabrielle was coming. "Even the limo I sent to pick up the mayor for our subdued opening ceremony got stranded in a flooded street," said Aj Jemison, manager of the mall next to Tampa International Airport. "The mayor had to drive himself here." As the upscale mall celebrates its birthday today retailers say it has bounced back strongly from that disastrous start. Critics who doubted the Tampa Bay area was ready for luxury retailers such as Neiman Marcus and Tiffany & Co. are beginning to reconsider. And as far as Taubman is concerned, the 1.2-million-square-foot mall is an unqualified success.
"International Plaza continues to exceed our sales plan," said Robert Taubman, chairman and chief executive officer of the Bloomfield Hills, Mich., mall developer. Company officials will not disclose sales figures. But the mall that opened 72 percent full has commitments that will make it 87 percent leased by year's end. The 129 stores, restaurants and kiosks that opened a year ago will have grown to 192. (The St. Petersburg Times has a sponsorship agreement with the mall that includes a kiosk and displays of oversized historic front pages.) In the parking lot behind Bay Street, the mall's restaurant row, developers begin construction this winter on a 300-room Renaissance hotel scheduled to open in 2004. Taubman expects the mall's rental income will be stable enough to secure lower-interest permanent financing for the property in 2003. International Plaza would be the first of the four malls Taubman opened in 2001 healthy enough for permanent financing. But retailers at the mall say there's still room for improvement. Six stores from opening day have closed. The developer's plan to snag travelers waiting for flights at Tampa International Airport proved a dud. Shuttles from the airport carry only 150 riders a week, and that's up from seven a week the first few months. Tourists account for about one-quarter of sales. That's about normal for malls near a beach. But it's much less than tourist hot spots such as Myrtle Beach or Orlando, where regional malls can draw up to half their business from vacationers. Things hit bottom New Year's Eve when a 10 p.m. power failure shut down the kitchens in several restaurants. Power wasn't restored until after midnight. Since then retailers, who typically spend a couple of years figuring out what sells at a new mall, say International Plaza has been getting better every month. "We think it's a strong location that will only get better for us," said LaVelle Olexa, senior vice president of fashion merchandising for Lord & Taylor. Several retailers say the mall has filled Taubman's promises it would draw repeat shoppers from as far as Sarasota. The plaza's Cheesecake Factory restaurant and American Greetings card store quickly became among the top performers for those chains. The Build-a-Bear workshop is the third-best performing store in that chain of 98. "It's going to be a $3-million store for us, which is $1-million more than we expected," said Maxine Clark, who calls herself the chief executive bear of the St. Louis company. "I'm fairly well pleased at this point, but it's a huge store that we built for the future and this is only the first year," said Robin Sanderford, president of Dillard's Southeast Division. "We're meeting expectations in 80 percent of all categories. "We're on our plan," said Wendy Krimins, manager of Neiman Marcus, which found its average customer was 35 years old, not the company-wide average of 51. "So we've added more designers like Gautier, Dolce & Gabanna, Roberto Cavalli and Moschino. We dropped conservative ones like Louis Feraud." Neiman also cut back the cold-weather gear and heavy fabrics such as tweeds. "We expected more people would be buying that for travel," said Krimins. "It's amazing how different our International Plaza customer is than the ones we get at Old Hyde Park Village," said John Ward, co-owner of Nicholson House, which sells decor and gift items. "At Hyde Park we sell more things in conservative tones, while at IP everybody Except for weekends, International Plaza also has a late-arriving crowd that's rare in the local mall industry. Crowds are sparse before lunch. The food court does not gather lunch crowds as well as nearby WestShore Plaza. But after the work day and into the early evening, shopping traffic picks up. While Cheesecake Factory and Blue Martini are frequently jammed, Ville du Pain, Richie's neighborhood Pizza and Hollywood Java closed within months of opening. The upscale Profusion, which numbers Tampa Bay Buccaneer player Keyshawn Johnson as a part-owner, is adding $1 appetizers, staging wine tasting events and promoting sushi-making classes to build an audience. "Those first three months were scary," said Clarence Mah, one of the restaurant's co-owners. "But by December we could see the light at the end of the tunnel. The mall gets the traffic, but people are still a bit hesitant to spend because of the economy." The mall's collection of designer boutiques may not appear to be thriving. But several managers report they are doing fine. "Some of them look pretty empty to me, but we've done great," said Gloria Rosario, manager of the Coach Leather, which doubled its first-year sales projection of $500,000. Sales are holding up well at Hugo Boss, where dress shirt prices begin at $70 and suit prices peak at $3,000. "We may not look busy," said store manager Paul Smith. "But if one customer comes in to buy a couple of suits, it's been a decent day." At St. John Boutique, a lot of the selling is done over the phone or customers are whisked off to private fitting salons with a rack of $3,000 couture outfits while a spouse sips free wine and watches sports in a TV lounge. "Business has been fair so far but we're hopeful about the fall," said manager Carolyn Kleban. "A lot of our customers have not returned home from vacation." Meantime, sales and traffic are depressed at International Plaza's biggest rival, WestShore Plaza, which is just a mile away. Owners of the long-established mall blame the economy, new competition and their loss of Dillard's. "Our traffic was hurt," said Kathy Werner, manager of the mall's 5-year-old Saks Fifth Avenue. "But fortunately we were in this market first and built a lot of loyalty, so it has been coming back." Rumors persist that upscale Saks might pull out of WestShore once the more moderately priced Sears Roebuck & Co. fills Dillard's old space Oct. 5. Werner's response: "That's ridiculous." Saks' lease gave the store an option to leave. But the window of opportunity to exercise it passed in the spring. Now rumors swirl that Saks parent will replace the store with another of its brands: Parisian. However, the lease is only for a Saks Fifth Avenue. "Frankly, nobody at Saks has ever suggested such a thing to us," said Dave Olson, senior vice president and asset manager for WestShore's owner, Grosvenor International. "But no sooner does one rumor prove wrong than another one pops up." -- Mark Albright can be reached at albright@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8252.
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