Montgomery Mall is losing shoppers to other upscale shopping centers in the region, said Anthony Alessi, director of development for Westfield, the company which owns the mall. "Tysons Corner is attracting a lot of our customers," Alessi said. "Our retailers are telling us we have to do something."
Westfield's answer to these complaints is a redesign of the portion of the mall facing Westlake Terrace. The mall industry is changing, Alessi explained to the Western Montgomery County Citizen's Advisory Board at its regular meeting on July 19. Traditional department stores are less frequently seen as anchors.
What is becoming more popular, Alessi said, are "Lifestyle Centers," shopping malls with an entertainment component and more upscale restaurants instead of just stores and a food court. "It's taking the traditional mall design and adding additional components," he said.
Westfield plans to remove the anchor store which used to be J.C. Penny and is currently the Hecht’s home store and Old Navy. the Hecht’s home store will be rebuilt next to the regular Hecht’s.
In place of the current anchor will be a curving group of stores which will try to mimic a streetscape. The shops will be oriented outward and Westfield plans to encourage them to be creative in designing their facades, within the company's parameters.
"It's not unlike what you see on a high street or a shopping street," said Vince Vawodny, vice-president of design for Westfield. "The upper level will have a varied roofscape, not just a box."
The shopping center, currently 1.2 million square feet, will be expanded by 350,000 square feet, Alessi said. The new style centers, instead of department stores, are more frequently including stores such as Best Buy, Target and Wal-Mart, but Westfield does not plan to include any of those stores.
Instead, Alessi said, Westfield has been in talks with more upscale stores like Talbot's, Borders and Wegmans. Alessi cautioned that none of those stores have committed, and that the talks are just in preliminary stages.
There are also plans to add a new movie theater. Although nothing is final, Alessi estimated that the new theater would have 14-16 screens. The mall's current theater has three.
Some members of the board had questions about the development plans. Geoffrey Cook asked if there would be shuttle buses run to the center from NIH or the Grovesnor Metro station.
Alessi pointed out that the mall already has a Metro bus transfer station, but said Westfield would be open to having discussions about other routes.
Another question, which Alessi has grown accustomed to came from board member Jack Alexander. He questioned changing the name of the shopping center to what he said was the too-long "Westfield Shoppingtown Montgomery. "You guys change the name and Tysons Corner is eatIng your lunch," Alexander said.
Westfield, Alessi explained is an Australian company which is just starting to take hold in the U.S. they hope that over time, their name will become more well known. "It's a marketing brand name," he said.
Board Member Larry Gordon said that the current parking lots sometimes have problems with teens drag racing in them. "You might want to consider some kind of speed calming device," he said.
The Westfield representatives were surprised to hear about the problem and said they would look into it. "That's not something we would dismiss out of hand," Vawodny said.
Westfield hopes ot submit plans in early August and to begin construction in July of 2005, Alessi said. He said that construction projects of this type typically take 18-24 months.