Kesslerwood Civic League

Glendale Tenants Shuffle

Jun 26, 2007

Glendale Tenants Face Shuffle
From: The Indianapolis Star | Date: 6/2/2007
Print Digg del.icio.us

Jun. 2--Before the bulldozers and chain-link fence came, dozens of merchants cut ties with Glendale Mall.

Details Express Salon owners Charla and Marcus Saloane left six months ago, taking seven employees and five chairs with them. Fortunately, they say, about 900 customers immediately followed them to a new shop about three miles away at 5990 E. 71st St. The owners say they are thriving in their new spot, but spent $15,000 relocating.

"We're just the lemons trying to make lemonade," Charla Saloane said.

The Northeastside shopping center, at Keystone Avenue and 62nd Street, is to relaunch next summer, its 50th year, as Glendale Town Center. Kite Realty Group bought Glendale in 1999. In April, demolition began for a $28.5 million makeover. Glendale will turn from its enclosed concept into an open-air shopping center, similar to Carmel's Clay Terrace and Plainfield's Metropolis.

The circumstances varied for the departed Glendale tenants, which totaled up to 55. Some could not succeed as the mall struggled. Others relocated, bitter about losing their leases because they didn't fit into the mall's future. Smaller mom-and-pops like Christine Odom's business Chicken & Everything lost their leases, then shut down.

"I don't have any ill feelings against Kite. They had to do what they had to do," said Odom, who is retired. "But I don't feel that's how you treat tenants."

Adam Chavers, investor relations manager with Indianapolis-based Kite, said economic realties of what one analyst called a "declining asset" demanded change.

"While some users really wanted to see the (old) enclosed mall work, I don't think that there were too many people who can say that Glendale Mall was going to stay how it was," he said. "Something had to be done."

He said once the makeover is done, former tenants could join the major retailers.

"Still open," as the large signs along Keystone Avenue note, are Kerasotes ShowPlace 12, Lowe's Home Improvement, Staples, Macy's, LensCrafters and a branch of the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library.

A Target department store and about 70,000 square feet of new shops and office space will sit next to two outlets, one with a Panera Bread restaurant.

Also surviving the changes is Glendale Oasis, part of The Oasis Institute, a national nonprofit designed to enhance the quality of life for mature adults.

Program coordinator Mary Dorney said Kite was helpful during Oasis' move from the mall's basement to 10,000 square feet near Staples and Lowe's.

"We signed a long-term lease. We're planning to never leave. Kite's been really great to us," Dorney said.

When faced with leaving Glendale, Luca Pizza di Roma president Antonio DiMizio made a deal. Kite bought out his lease and in mid-January DiMizio moved from the food court. On May 22, Luca turned on its relocated dough machine and welcomed customers at a new Downtown store at Illinois and New York streets.

DiMizio even got the 88 chairs and 25 tables from Glendale's food court, spruced them up, and put them in the new location.

The pizza business at Glendale was profitable, he said, and he's open to the idea of being a part of the "new" Glendale.

"I have only good things to say about Kite," DiMizio said.

Waiting and watching for the results is a target customer base of more than 70,000 people within three miles. Frank Abelard, who describes himself as a regular patron of Lowe's, is president of the North Kessler Manor Neighborhood Association and a fan of Glendale.

"We're anxious for it to improve," Abelard said. "And it looks like it is."

GOOD THINGS FOR GLENDALE?

--THE PAST: Opened Aug. 14, 1958, as state's largest retail shopping center. Was enclosed in 1969. Later underwent a $1 million renovation in 1994, followed by major anchors like Lazarus bolting and leaving L.S. Ayres (now Macy's) as sole department store.

--THE PRESENT: Kite Realty Group bought in 1999, pouring in $45 million for a major makeover that included a focus as a community center. But, in 2003, occupancy and, in 2004, sales fell well below national average.

--THE FUTURE: Glendale Town Center will open in summer 2008, with 685,000 square feet. A site plan from Kite shows 2,800 parking spaces. The site plan shows a Target of 129,167 square feet roughly where Old Navy and Stein Mart used to be. A parking lot would replace the middle of the mall and separate Target from the existing Macy's department store.

Six buildings (that will ring Macy's) and two new outlets have a combined estimated 72,000 square feet. Two committed tenants for the six buildings are Lens Crafters and Catherines. A Panera Bread will occupy one of the outlets along Keystone Avenue, joining existing Walgreens, Taco Bell and O'Charley's.

Stores that have stayed on during the renovation are Kerasotes ShowPlace 12, Lowe's Home Improvement, Staples, Macy's, the Glendale Branch Library and Glendale Oasis, a nonprofit center for older adults.

-----

To see more of The Indianapolis Star, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.IndyStar.com.

Copyright (c) 2007, The Indianapolis Star

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.