By Elvan
Katmer
Thursday,
November 5, 2014
Quince Orchard Plaza Survives Reconstruction
A reconstruction project at Quince
Orchard Plaza has hurt business at several shops, but retailers say it should
help in the long run.
 |
“Stores
Open” signs posted on the constructions
area fences.
|
Federal Realty Investment Trust has been partially reconstructing the Quince Orchard Plaza as a part of modernization project, bringing discount grocery store Aldi to the shopping center.
As a part of the project, an addition and a reconstruction was approved on November of 2013.
A pizza restaurant Cici's, a small grocery store Gourmet Grog, a fitness salon Studio X and two empty spots could not renew lease or were not leased to allow renovations. The space being built is already leased by Aldi grocery store.
According to Federal Realty development manager Nick Over, the renovations are projected to be completed by year 2015. The goal is to make shopping plaza less like a strip mall, with more lighting and fewer dark corners.
According to construction
superintendent James Grose, nearly 19000 square feet retail space is being
added by removing useless breezeways in between stores.
“It is going to be a fairly tall
building,” he said.
Brandon Tolley, assistant Manager
at Staples, which employs more than 20 people, said it was forced to downsize
50 percent for the additions.
“We were either going to move out
of the shopping center or we were going to downsize,” he said.
Along with the added space to the
building Staples partially gave up, three stores on a total of 8,155 square feet
area will be settling in the plaza early in next year. The spaces are still in
lease negotiation.
Because of the construction, some
customers thought stores at the mall had closed, but business owners say they
hope to get them back once it’s over.
“The day that they started
clearing out the stores, people were coming in a lot less frequently,” said
Tolley.
Still,
they were not affected as badly as they had anticipated.
According to Alexis Magill, the
owner of Quincy’s Bar and Grill that has been in the shopping center over 30
years with different names, her business gets affected slightly early evenings
Thursday through Saturday because people can’t find a parking spot.
Construction took away 50 parking spots.
Due to construction, businesses lost power several times up to six hours. There has been a gas leak that they had to evacuate the stores. some stores lost power a few times and the main road in the plaza has been closed time to time.
"We will be sitting down and discussing there issues with them [Federal Realty officials]," Magill said.
But overall, thanks to her regular customer base she is not much worried about the revenue her business lost so far. She said her numbers were very close to previous year, yet it is hard to gain new customers.
"We have actually been doing okay," she said. "We have a day bar business that virtually not many people in the area have."
She thinks their business will get better than it was after the project is completed as the bar will have a broader view from outside and the renovations they will have later will give more space to the restaurant.
Federal Realty development manager, Over said they will also renovate inside of some retailers' space after project is complete.
"The end result will be worth it," he said.
Jean Tagro, general manager for LA
Fitness that has been in the shopping center for two years also thinks project
is going to improve his business once it is complete. For the same reason he
does not complain about parking hassle, noise or water being shut down
occasionally because of the construction.
“It’s for a better place,” he
said. He thinks parking will still be an issue after the construction though.
“It is a hassle, and it is going to be more of a hassle.”
He sees the negatives effects but
expects the good outcome afterwards.
“You’ve
got to be positive my man. [My expectation is] a little bit of chaos. But at
the end of the day it is going to work.”
No comments:
Post a Comment