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Mall operator General Growth Properties is expanding its Fashion Place mall in Murray, including the addition of Utah's first Crate & Barrel home-furnishings store.
The 15-month expansion, which is under way, is the second major development project at the popular mall in recent years. In 2009, General Growth completed an overhaul of the interior of the main mall property and added a new 138,000-square-foot Nordstrom store that opened for business on the mall's north side. Nordstrom, which already had a location in the mall, moved into its new site from the older building that has since been demolished.
The new Crate & Barrel store is part of nearly 100,000 square feet of retail space that will be built near The Cheesecake Factory restaurant in the area where the old Nordstrom store once stood.
The mall, which has added several new tenants this year, including Corner Bakery, California Pizza Kitchen, Coldwater Creek and Utah's first Sephora store, plans to complete the Crate & Barrel store and about 17 other storefront and restaurant spaces by November 2011.
Tenants other than Crate & Barrel will be announced during the next year, "as soon as the leases are signed," said Celeste Dorris, senior general manager of Fashion Place.
Dorris said the impact on Fashion Place shoppers during the next year should be minimal, especially compared with the last phase, which involved work on the main mall.
"This time, it's isolated to one portion of the property," Dorris said.
The work on Fashion Place begins not long after General Growth closed on the sale of its Cottonwood Mall property in Holladay to real estate company The Howard Hughes Corp. Dallas-based Howard Hughes hasn't released details of its plans for Cottonwood, which General Growth had intended on remaking from top to bottom.
Most of the main mall was demolished a couple of years ago, just as the economic downturn hit and General Growth went into bankruptcy. Only one tenant remains — a Macy's department store.
"Plans for the future of Cottonwood Mall are being developed ... so as to best position it for the opportunities presented by evolving market conditions," said a statement on Howard Hughes Corp.'s website.
Unlike Cottonwood Mall, which was hurt by changing traffic patterns and an outdated building, Fashion Place has prospered. In fact, by various measures, Fashion Place, with about 135 stores and restaurants, is one of the best-performing malls in Utah, if not the best, said commercial real estate specialists. It has benefited from the development of the valley's freeway system, which provides easy access to the property.
"It's location in the heart of the valley, its proximity to freeways — it's just a fantastic location for a regional mall," said Darrell Tate of Commerce Real Estate Solutions.
And it has three strong anchors — Nordstrom, Dillard's and Sears.
Even during the economic downturn, Fashion Place has done well.
"Their vacancy levels have always been minimal," Tate said.
The latest expansion project is one of only a few commercial-development and redevelopment projects under way, including Trolley Square shopping center near downtown and Valley Fair Mall in West Valley. Both are making substantial capital improvements and adding new tenants.
Trolley Square is adding a Whole Foods Market that is set to open next year. Valley Fair Mall has been redeveloped during the past several years and has expanded with a number of new retailers and restaurants.
What's new atthe mall
In the past year, Fashion Place has added the following:
Corner Bakery
California Pizza Kitchen
Coldwater Creek
Sephora