Boom in Lifestyle Center Malls a Boon to Shoppers
Published Mar 27, 2008
By design, Cottonwood Mall incorporates architectural elements that complement the dry desert and mountainous landscapes of Central New Mexico.
Fifteen years ago, if you wanted to go shopping and you lived in West Albuquerque, you had to be motivated. Seeing just about anything beyond a grocery store or a small-potatoes strip mall meant trucking it across the Rio Grande.
And what waited on the other side wasn’t exactly modern shopping. Two malls dating to the 1960s checked the retail box, but many felt they left something to be desired.
When Albuquerque’s population cleared half a million in the 1990s, developers set out to do something about it.
The retail renaissance began with Cottonwood Mall. Built in 1996, it was a breath of fresh air to the west’s retail sector. In the 12 years since Cottonwood opened its doors, West Albuquerque has seen a renaissance of retail development.
“Since that time, there’s been probably another million, maybe million-and-a-half, square feet developed in the same area,” says Greg Foltz, president of Coldwell Banker Commercial - Las Colinas, which worked on securing the Cottonwood family of developments. “It’s an area that has pretty substantial residential growth over the last 10 years, so the retail is now catching up with it.
“Once there’s a certain amount of rooftops, the national retailers start to look and say, ‘This is an area that we need to serve.’”
Development 10-12 years ago centered on the “power center” concept, according to Foltz, which placed “big box” stores, such as Wal-Marts and Best Buys, in the middle of strip malls populated with smaller outlets.
Now retail is trending toward “lifestyle centers,” Foltz said. These outdoor mall developments are more multifaceted. They typically feature more parking close to the stores, more restaurants and a more upscale feeling overall.
One unique aspect of Albuquerque’s building boom is that new construction has to meet strict aesthetic guidelines, Foltz said. The city enforces uniformity in order to preserve the region’s architectural tradition.
Retail development has hit its stride in Albuquerque, thanks in large part to the influx of population, but other areas in Central New Mexico are seeing growth, as well.
Larry Marshall is the president of Belen Sand and Gravel, a supplier to construction companies in the region. He says when an area begins to rapidly develop, his company is the direct benefactor of that growth.
Belen Sand and Gravel offers two primary products: ready-mix concrete and rock products for creating asphalt. The rock portion of his company is expanding to meet growing demands of development projects such as Mesa del Sol, a massive mixed-use community in Albuquerque.
“We’re kind of engineering our company to be able to handle that,” he says, explaining that they’re opening divisions to handle infrastructure building. “We’re creating a mixed-use company, if you will.”
Story by Michaela Jackson
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