Apartments in Conn. shopping malls. Can the concept work?
Sites in Trumbull, Milford, Danbury could lead way
The Trumbull Mall is owned by a Great Neck, N.Y. company, Namdar Realty Group, which also owns Connecticut malls in Enfield, Meriden and Waterford.
The remaining eight months of this year could serve as a litmus test for the trend of Connecticut malls turning to the development of high-end apartments to bolster customer foot traffic counts.
The success of this concept, which experts say has been in use elsewhere in the United States since the early 2000s, is facing its first test in the Trumbull Mall. The first tenants in the 260-unit complex located along the periphery of the mall began moving in last July, according to a spokeswoman for the project’s developer. Several other buildings in the complex remain under construction.
Two other mall-based apartment projects, in Milford and Danbury, are also in earlier stages of development. They too combine lodging with retail, going so far as to transform a vacant former clothing store and a long-closed department store into multiple homes.
The Danbury Zoning Commission unanimously approved a new zone last October that would allow the Danbury Fair mall to build 140 or more apartments in the empty former Lord & Taylor store there. And at the Connecticut Post Mall in Milford, engineers are in the midst of designing a mixed-use retail and 750-unit residential development, the mall’s general manager, Ken Sterba, said earlier this month.
Converting a Sears
The development, which Milford officials approved last October, will include the space formerly occupied by the former Sears anchor store near the mall’s East Town Road entrance. The store closed at the end of 2018.
When fully completed, The Residences at Main in Trumbull will have pedestrian access to the neighboring mall via a staircase and walkway. Rina Bakalar, Trumbull’s economic and community development director, said that part of the apartment complex is still a construction site, although temporary certificates of occupancy have been issued for three of the five apartment buildings being built in the complex.
New Jersey-based Garden Communities is the developer for The Residences at Main, which is billed as a luxury rental development at 5085 Main St. The complex is designed a gated, town center-style community. It includes 190 two-bedroom apartments and 70 one-bedroom units ranging from 730 to 1,230 square feet. All layouts include a private balcony or patio, gourmet kitchen, oversized walk-in closets, resident-controlled central air and heat, remote keyless entry, and an in-suite washer and dryer.
The amenities at the complex include a fitness center, co-working space, a heated swimming pool and an outdoor dining area with barbecue grills.
The Trumbull Mall is owned by a Great Neck, N.Y. company, Namdar Realty Group, which also owns Connecticut malls in Enfield, Meriden and Waterford. When mall management was asked if the retail center had seen an uptick in foot traffic since the first tenants of the The Residences at Main started moving in last summer, they responded with a written statement.
“The apartments have been a welcome addition to the community that surrounds Trumbull Mall,” the statement from Namdar read in part. “We’ve heard from a few tenants that they’ve seen renter foot traffic recently, and we look forward to more of that feedback. In the meantime, we are continuing to work hard on creating a diverse mix of retail offerings, dining options, and entertainment experiences available at the mall.”
Live there, shop there
Town officials have not done a formal analysis yet of the impact the luxury apartments are having on the mall, Bakalar said.
“We will do a more formal assessment once the development is fully opened and occupied,” she said. “Anecdotal information suggests the mall is seeing residents shop there, especially as they are setting up their apartments. I believe they are making purchases at both Target and Macy’s for their home goods.”
Bakalar said the new general manager at the mall’s Macy’s location has looked to boost inventory in the store, bringing in more sheets and related bedding for those new residents moving into the apartments.
Bakalar said she and First Selectwoman Vicki Tesoro also received assurances from the general manager that the store will not be closing. Macy’s announced earlier this year that it would close 150 stores by 2026, including 50 this year alone.
Jason Beske is a principal and a senior urban planner with the Canadian engineering firm Stantec. The firm recently completed a market feasibility and land use study that includes the mall for Trumbull officials.
Mall makeovers that include apartments typically fall into two categories, he said.
“On one end, we’re seeing apartments constructed in malls as part of a total redevelopment of the site, a reimaging,” Beske said. “On the other side, we’re seeing more surgical developments that just focus on placing the residential component somewhere on the mall property.”
The latter option is gaining in popularity when discussions about mall site redevelopment occur because in some cases, the retail center has more than one owner, he said.
“Property ownership is very difficult at the malls because of piecemeal property ownership,” Beske said. “The company that owns the majority of the space in the mall may not own some of the anchor spaces.”
Not everyone is sold on the wisdom of adding a residential component to shopping malls. Burt Flickinger is managing director of the New York Citybased retail consulting firm Strategic Resource Group. He said converting vacant retail space into residential space “compromises foot traffic and customer counts.”
“A good anchor store will generate thousands or tens of thousands of people a week in terms of foot traffic,” Flickinger said. “Replacing that with apartments doesn’t create that level of activity. It’s good for the landlords from a cash flow standpoint, but for other existing retailers in the mall, it’s a negative, not a positive.”