Sunrise Mall Area Redevelopment (Sacramento, Stockton: real estate, lease, how much)

[NewToCA]

One of the areas that seems to have been neglected for some time is the general retail area immediately surrounding Sunrise Mall, located at the intersection of Sunrise Blvd and Greenback Ln.

The mall itself isn't that bad, about 1 million sq ft of leased retail space with some of the typical mall department stores. However, the mall is very isolated from the surrounding area, though the entire retail region is widely promoted an Sunrise Marketplace:

EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN


Some favorable changes may be coming soon, to better integrate it with the surrounding areas by placing multiple restaurants and small stores around the perimeter of their massive parking lot:

Welcome to the City of Citrus Heights - Sunrise Mall Expansion Project
http://www.citrusheights.net/docs/se...escriptoin.pdf
http://www.citrusheights.net/docs/si...april_2008.pdf

[wburg]

Sounds like just another shift in retail fashion. 40-50 years ago, retail on the street was a no-no because you wanted to feature your huge parking lot. Now it's all about being right up against the street, with de-emphasized parking lots in the back or along the side--basically the way we built retail shopping districts before the automobile.

[NewToCA]

I'm not sure that this multi-pad process is the best way to go though. It would seem to me that they would have a better "look" if they had about a half dozen smaller stores/restaurants in a nice building going about 200-250 feet wide, and then an opening to the parking lot. I have some difficulty seeing how the look would be from the street with just having small stores/restaurants on multiple pads.

[edwardius]

It sounds like the mall isn't working and they are trying to make the most of the underutilized real estate. At other malls in the area, they have done the same thing when the mall itself is failing to attract enough traffic. By adding stores, closer to the street, you are no longer seeking to get traffic from people buying stuff in the mall as just taking advantage of the street traffic in front of the mall. Also you using under utilized space if the mall is no longer attracting the traffic it used to pull in. Before the Country Club Center landed Walmart, they added a couple of pads off El Camino where the Panera Cafe as well as a couple of other stores. They also did it in the Birdcage Mall was having lots of problem, back then is when they added a vitamin store in front of the Barnes and Noble, and Panda Express in front of where the Target is located.

The expansion project at the Roseville Galleria is probably really eating into the trading circumference of the Sunrise Mall. Before that expansion there was probably a lot more people in Folsom or El Dorado Hills who would have gone to the Sunrise Mall because it was the nearest mall are probably now going out to Roseville because it has the most high end stores. Additionally in the immediate trading area, Citrus Heights has probably gone downhill in the past 20 years, so between those two trends, its harder to keep shops in the Sunrise Mall. Look at the tenant mix in the Sunrise Mall. It no longer has the Gap, Eddie Bauer, Abercromie and Fitch, instead it has a bunch of second tier retailers.

I think the idea of adding a new theater to that mall is a good idea. The current theater is dated, too small with uncomfortable chairs and not enough screens. But the the theater should be attached to the mall itself. Probably in the back of the mall and ideally near the food court. That way people waiting for a specific movie might linger in the mall and do a little shopping or get something to eat in the foodcourt.

They probably should add another anchor as well. Stockton has a Dillard's yet there is no Dillard's in this region. Perhaps a tenant like that or even a Kohl's. If you brought in another anchor as part of a plan to remodel the interior of that mall, then you might re-invigorate the mall. But right now, it seems like they owners are more interested in making better use of under utilized real estate than in actually reinvigorating the mall itself. If it re-invigorates itself, it could probably keep a mall from built in Folsom. But if it doesn't. When someone finally puts a mall in Folsom that will finally kill off completely the Sunrise Mall.

[NewToCA]

Dillards would probably be a good fit for Sunrise Mall, I can see that giving them some better separation from Roseville Galleria. As far as Folsom and El Dorado Hills folks go, it is a trek to either mall, but the Roseville Galleria is really far away.

Regarding the movie house, I thought they were anticipating having some type of linkage between the new structure and the existing mall, at least that was the impression I had looking at the plans.

Regarding the Folsom and El Dorado Hills issue, I have to say though that I'm surprised they haven't planned a department store or two for Palladio in Folsom. But the way that has slowed down, I'm thinking it won't be open this year anyway.

[bluevelo]

Enclosed malls are dying... and I think some of the consume, consume, consume nature of our society is going away as well. How much crap do you REALLY need?

[zen_klown]

Right now seems like a bad time to own a mall.

Here are the words of the CEO of the biggest mall owner in the country.
“The new development business is dead for a decade,” Simon said on today’s call. “Maybe it’s eight years. Maybe it’s not completely dead. Maybe I’m over-dramatizing it for effect.”

Bloomberg.com: Worldwide

At the same time there was an article in today's Bee about how the owner's/developer's of the mall in Elk Grove are trying to sell at least part of the mall and how they aren't having much luck.

Ailing developer for Elk Grove mall shops for new partners - Sacramento Business, Housing Market News | Sacramento Bee

The Sunrise Mall is slowly dying. They haven't been able to keep the place up to date and they can no longer attract first tier tenants. I think they are adding all of the building pads out in front because there isn't a lot of demand for space inside the mall and they have no ability to raise rents without increasing vacancies in the mall further. As the mall has lost drawing power, they have lots of additional space in the parking lots, so adding some pads out in front is probably a way to monetize the value of the real estate.

At the moment there seems to be too much retail space in the area. The Country Club Plaza and Country Club Center seem to have lost much of their vitality. The Downtown Plaza Mall isn't doing so well either. The old Florin Mall died and is being rebuilt, but they seem to be losing tenants faster than they can add them (lost Mervyn's and the new store that was supposed to go into the pad next to Mervyn's). The Birdcage Walk isn't doing very well either.

The two best performing malls in the region are enclosed - the Arden Fair and Galleria in Roseville. So I am not sure that the problem is that enclosed malls are dying as much as that there is just too much space and the the malls that fail to update themselves are falling further behind.