Monday, May 14, 2012

Work Begins on Redevelopment of Loehmann's Plaza


Today's Herald Sun reports that the long suffering Loehmann's Plaza, a dilapidated (and 2/3 empty) shopping center bordering the northern side of our neighborhood is about to get a major boot from a partnership between Duke Medicine and Glenwood Development, a Huntersville-based developer which owns the shopping center.

The new development, dubbed Croasdaile Commons, is slated to feature 67,000 square feet of space for the new Duke Medicne Center, in addition to 17,258 square feet of retail, service, and restraint space and
11,000 square foot pharmacy. Despite significant upgrades to the existing retail space, most of the current businesses, including a neighborhood staple Papas Girlle, are expected to remain.

The new development will be located across the street from the newly constructed 248 units of multifamily Clairmont Apartments.

For additional details, please read the Herald Sun article reprinted after the break.

Duke Medicine to anchor redeveloped Loehmann’s Plaza
BY LAURA OLENIACZ

loleniacz@heraldsun.com; 919-419-6636

DURHAM – Construction work has already begun to redevelop Loehmann’s Plaza into a shopping center called Croasdaile Commons that is slated to include both retail and medical office space.

The anchor tenant in the redeveloped center is planned to be Duke Medicine, said Stephen Vinson, a principal with the Huntersville-based company Glenwood Development Co. that owns the center.

Vinson said Duke Medicine is planned to take up about 67,000 square feet of space. Existing shopping center tenants are expected to maintain locations as well.

The center is expected to be fully occupied upon the project’s completion, Vinson said. According to information from the Raleigh-based market research firm Karnes, the center had 64,390 square feet vacant out of a total of 96,000 square feet as of Feb. 22.

Most of the center’s existing vacancies were by design, Vinson said. The company planned to redevelop the center, and let leases expire to free up space.

“It’s created some short-term vacancy, but with the long-term goal of facilitating the center’s (redevelopment),” Vinson said.

At one time, Glenwood had plans to redevelop the center into a grocery store-anchored project, with Harris Teeter as the anchor. But those plans went off the table.

“Unfortunately, Harris Teeter did not go forward with the project, so we stepped back out to find, frankly, the best user we could find that, in our view, would bring traffic and energy back into the project, and help us restore it to a first-class project, and Duke was interested in begin a part of the project,” Vinson said.

The construction work has begun, and is expected to be completed next spring.

Roy Brockwell, assistant director of Durham City-County Building and Inspections, said several permits were issued in February, in March, and in April. He said the total cost of construction so far listed on the permits, which included demolition to upfit permits, was $362,234.

“There’s quite a bit going on there now, it’s really moving,” Brockwell said.

Vinson said some tenants will remain open during the redevelopment, including Kerr Drug. The El Corral Mexican Restaurant has temporarily closed for construction.

“The exterior construction could be done in the (early) part of 2013, some of the interior work will spill over into that late first quarter, early second quarter time frame,” Vinson said. “The retail portion will more or less remain open throughout the redevelopment, the Duke space expect to open in the early spring, in the late first to early second quarter,” he added.

Glenwood purchased the shopping center in 1999. The center has seen the closure of Loehmann’s, the department store for which the center was named, in 2007, according to previous reports in The Herald-Sun, and it’s also been negatively affected by roadwork.

In September of 2010, a project was launched to upgrade a portion of Hillandale Road from Interstate 85 to north of Carver Street to a four-lane, median-divided route, said Steve Abbott, a N.C. Department of Transportation spokesman.

The $4.2 million project was expected to be completed in mid-September. In April, it was about 64 percent done, Abbott said, and it’s slightly behind schedule.

“Like any construction project, it’s been burdensome for some of the tenants to deal with in the short-term,” Vinson said. “In the long run, we think it’s going to be an added benefit for everyone, particularly with the new traffic signal. ...”

Sam Papanikas, the chef and co-owner of the Greek and Mediterranean food restaurant Papas Grille, said that with the center’s vacancies before construction, there hasn’t been a lot of foot or drive-by traffic.

“We were really struggling,” Papanikas said. “The plaza was just dormant.”

Papanikas said the restaurant’s been open in the plaza for 18 years. At one time, the plaza was lively, and generated a lot of foot traffic.

With the construction, he expects business to come down a little bit, but he’s positive about the long-term impact of the redevelopment.

“Looking ahead, this project, I think, overall, is going to help us out, and bring our business back up,” he said. “The whole plaza itself is going to be in new condition, (there will be) a lot of foot traffic again, and employees again in the area to help us out.”

The restaurant, which serves items ranging from spinach and feta-stuffed chicken breast, to herb encrusted lamb rack and Spanish paella, plans to stay in the same location, but will shut down in the summer for remodeling work.

When it re-opens, which is likely to happen in August, Papas Grille will likely have a new name and look, he said.

“It’s time for it to be renovated, (to) tear it down, build a new restaurant with a more modern look,” he said.

Read more: The Herald-Sun - Duke Medicine to anchor redeveloped Loehmann’s Plaza





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