Pickleball may be solution for struggling properties
With pickleball enthusiasts eyeing the possibility of an indoor center at the Trumbull Mall, the town planned to hold court Tuesday evening on ways to reinvigorate the Merritt Parkway mall, which with new apartments on the property could provide a blueprint for mall redevelopment in Connecticut.
The town is in the midst of collecting ideas on the future of the newly renamed Trumbull Mall and its immediate neighborhood stretching south on Main Street to the Bridgeport line, where a succession of strip malls begins. The meeting is part of a larger, $350,000 study by consulting firm Stantec on how the mall can be positioned to succeed.
“This study is so important,” First Selectman Vicki Tesoro told CT Insider on Tuesday. “We certainly want the mall to be successful because it’s the best thing for our community. They are our largest taxpayer, so we are here to support them — and hopefully they’re here to support us.”
This meeting comes only weeks after the launch of a website soliciting ideas and opinions from residents and others interested in the mall’s future. Few residents have submitted ideas since the website went live, according to Rina Bakalar, Trumbull’s head of economic development, but Bakalar said she expects an active exchange of ideas at the Thursday forum.
After Pickleball America took over a former Saks OFF 5th store at Stamford Town Center, a similar idea has been broached for the Trumbull Mall, Bakalar said. Bowling and gaming has also been teed up as an option, with Round1 Bowling & Amusement preparing to open at Danbury Fair in former Forever 21 space. Dave & Busters operates a sports bar, restaurant and arcade at the Connecticut Post Mall in Milford.
“People want pickleball at the mall and they want it to be affordable,” Bakalar said. “We already have an inquiry from a pickleball group that is looking.”
Unibail-RodamcoWestfield sold the mall long known as Westfield Trumbull last December to
Namdar Realty Group based in Great Neck, N.Y. Paris-based URW sold the mall as part of a larger divestment of its U.S. retail shopping centers to focus on European real estate opportunities. Bakalar said that Namdar has been actively involved with the Stantec study, and called the company “an opportunistic owner” that has been actively courting tenants.
In addition to the Trumbull Mall, Namdar owns the Enfield Square Mall and the Meriden Mall. Namdar has yet to update the mall’s Facebook page since the purchase.
U.S. mall owners have expressed continued interest in turning malls into “lifestyle” centers with a mix of residential, retail and entertainment uses, as a way to reinvigorate their prospects.
With the Residences at Main complex now leasing out new units at just under $2,300 a month and up, the
Trumbull Mall is the closest to testing that concept, with the new buildings a short walk to entrances for the mall, the now-shuttered Lord & Taylor and a standalone L.A. Fitness gym. Apartment manager Garden Communities is offering the first month free on a one-year lease along with $1,000 toward eligible move-in expenses by the start of September.
In its final years as Westfield Trumbull, URW sought to expand the mall’s appeal via a SeaQuest commercial aquarium, even as SeaQuest came under scrutiny in other locations over its record on animal welfare. After a mechanical failure in a SeaQuest Trumbull tank earlier this year, the Connecticut Animal Control Division determined 18 fish died, with the incident prompting a lawsuit by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
The mall’s biggest opportunity currently is its shuttered Lord & Taylor store, which totals 120,000 square feet of space on two levels. The anchor pad was not included in the Namdar sale, with owner Hudson’s Bay having yet to disclose any plans for the site.
Bakalar said the possibility exists for other standalone buildings on the property, but that she was not aware of Namdar’s thinking on whether to do so. At Danbury Fair, Longhorn Steakhouse and Shake Shack leased newly constructed buildings on the property, rather than any available space inside the mall.