FEATURE ARTICLE, DECEMBER 2005

THE SHOPS AT ATLAS PARK PREPARES FOR OPENING
New lifestyle center holds summer programs to promote its unique project.
Dan Marcec

The Shops at Atlas Park is a 400,000-square-foot lifestyle center that is scheduled to open in late April 2006. Like many other lifestyle centers, the tenant mix comprises specialty retailers, in this case better women's apparel, and there is a large component of entertainment and dining tenants that occupy the center as well.

An aerial rendering of The Shops at Atlas Park, a 400,000-square-foot lifestyle center that is set to open in April 2006. The shopping center is the first of its kind in all of New York City; this summer, the development team held events to promote the center, giving both local residents and prospective tenants an idea of what the project offers.

The newest tenants within the center include Chico's, which has leased 3,919 square feet; White House Black Market has signed on for 2,375 square feet; Gymboree is leasing 2,284 square feet; and Shiro's of Japan recently signed on for 8,400 square feet of space. However, despite the underserved market and the pent-up demand, leasing has not been an easy task.

“The most interesting challenge in leasing this project has been introducing a complex and new market to our tenants' leasing representatives,” explains Damon Hemmerdinger, development director for The Shops at Atlas Park. “Simply put, this location in Queens is a different market than almost anywhere these tenants are used to occupying space; however, we're making available to our tenants the opportunity to sell their merchandise in they way they like to sell it in a market where normally they would have to compromise.”

To promote its spring opening, The Shops at Atlas Park ran several programs and events this summer not only to show off the center to local residents, but also to give tenants an idea of the customer base and how the center itself will look. Beginning the weekend after July 4, every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., the 2.5-acre park in the middle of the project was opened to the public for an event called “The Park Meets the Arts.” Included in this summer program was a Greenmarket, which featured two to four large farmer's trucks filled with goods just picked off the farm; a local craft fair, organized through the New York Council of the Arts, that displayed work from local Queens and other New York City crafters; and the third component of the program involved some sort of entertainment, featuring a different event every week.

The Greenmarket, held in conjunction with the New York Council on the Environment, included a mix of farm-fresh vegetables, fruits, flowers and baked goods, along with fall harvest items such as apples, ciders and pears; also, winter squash, carrots, turnips, beets, cabbage and more were offered. The Greenmarket, a unique opportunity mid-Queens residents, was so popular that the organizers decided to continue it through November. The entertainment component featured face painters, clowns, balloons and all sorts of activities for children, and on the summer program's closing weekend, New York City-based Pulse Ensemble Theatre reprised its performance of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Overall, the summer program endeavors were very successful, attracting more than 1,000 attendees every Saturday.

“A lot of people had concerns about this project, as they wanted to see what was going on in their neighborhood, but the summer events really helped tenants gauge who the Atlas Park shopper will be,” says Rebecca Maccardini, principal at RMResources LLC. “In addition, the local residents had a preview of the park that's right in their backyard, a rare thing in such a densely populated area. They were able to see that the project is not just another big box development, but an endeavor that's really centered upon the redevelopment of an old site into a new destination.”

“From the leasing standpoint, by opening the park early we were interested in two things,” Hemmerdinger continues. “We wanted to build portions of the project that conveyed its physical future early enough that tenants could decide if they wanted to occupy space. We also wanted to portray our customer base to the tenants, and by having the level of activity provided by the summer programs, our prospective tenants could physically see their shoppers and decide whether it was a project in which they would like to participate. Our second motivation was to familiarize our customer base with the Atlas Park project to help ensure that our tenants open to very strong sales in the spring.”

While every shopping center markets its product that will make it known to the surrounding community, The Shops at Atlas Park took a chance on a unique marketing method. According to both Hemmerdinger and Maccardini, this type of creativity could be duplicated, but they believe that impetus for these summer programs were specific ideas regarding this development. In any case, the effectiveness of these endeavors will be seen when The Shops of Atlas Park opens in April 2006.

©2005 France Publications, Inc. Duplication or reproduction of this article not permitted without authorization from France Publications, Inc. For information on reprints of this article contact Barbara Sherer at (630) 554-6054.