Mall Makeover
Five Points Mall Becomes Renaissance Towne Centre
When Town Center, LLC acquired the Five Points Mall in Bountiful, Utah in
December 1998, it purchased the largest commercially-zoned property in Bountiful, which is
a northern suburb of Salt Lake City. However, the existing facility on the property was an
outdated, traditional enclosed mall. Within a 12-mile radius of the site are six
communities that have no functioning downtown center. But that is about to change.
Plans call for a demolition of Five Points Mall and transformation of the 20-acre site
into Renaissance Towne Centre. The new development will offer approximately 400,000 sq.ft.
of mixed-use space with retail, entertainment, restaurant, recreation, and office tenants.
It is being planned as a New Urbanism-concept town center and is expected to break ground
by early spring 2000. The cost of the new center is estimated at $45 million.
| Bruce Broadhead and Stephen Gilmore, managing
members of Town Center, LLC, pulled in an anchor tenant as a foundation for the new
project and retained a variety of experts to assist in development. Ground is
expected to break in January 2000 on a $9-million, 65,000-sq.ft. location for Sports Mall,
a Utah leader in family and individual fitness and wellness. Completion of the athletic
facility is anticipated in fall 2000. |
 |
“Sports Mall is just the type of
destination anchor we’ve been targeting to attract traffic to the redeveloped
Renaissance Towne Centre,” says Broadhead, adding that it will bring a well-respected
and successful local ‘brand’ to the tenant line-up. He says the athletic venue
will feature a wide variety of amenities, making it the premier athletic facility in the
area north of Salt Lake City, and he expects it will draw traffic of 500,000 people per
year. Broadhead describes the concept as an “upscale YMCA,” geared toward
families as well as adults. |
Sports Mall will offer a year-round, eight-lane,
junior-Olympic swimming pool, a whirlpool/Jacuzzi, racquetball courts, and outdoor
volleyball and NBA-sized basketball courts. Areas of the facility will be dedicated to
different fitness activities, to include a room of multiple, ‘selectorized’
fitness equipment; a full cardiovascular, state-of-the-art workout center; an aerobics
studio and spinning room; and a free-weight gym expected to be the largest in the area.
Separate, customized locker rooms for men and women will be equipped with steam and sauna
facilities, and an adults-only, executive locker room will offer valet and laundry
service. Additionally, refreshments will be available at an in-house nutrition center.
Broadhead says he is especially excited about
the athletic programs that Sports Mall will bring to Bountiful.
“The Sports Mall is well known for innovative programs at its other facilities, and
we look forward to an extensive offering of programs for all ages and family
members.” In addition to its Sports Mall concept, parent company Sports Mall, Inc.
also operates the Metro Sports Club and Sanctuary Day Spa. Between 70 and 80 programs are
planned at the Renaissance Towne Center location, including special programs for teens and
pre-teens in their own, separate program rooms.
With Sports Mall secured as an anchor, Town Center, LLC is actively pursuing a second
major destination anchor tenant. Broadhead says he is interested in placing a
3,000-3,500-seat, 16-screen theater in the center and he is considering an organic market
as well. He wants Renaissance Towne Centre to be viewed as a family recreational and
entertainment center with a shopping component. Spaces of 1,000 sq.ft. to 25,000 sq.ft.
will be available for lease in order to offer an eclectic mix of offerings.
To assist in ongoing development plans, the company retained Robert Gibbs, managing
principal of the Gibbs Planning Group, a development consulting company in Michigan, and
Ira Mitchell, president of IJM Associates, an entertainment, development and leasing
consulting company in Pacific Palisades, California. Gibbs is considered a leader in the
New Urbanism design and planning movement has been active in research and planning several
new town retail village centers throughout the United States and abroad. Mitchell is
former executive vice president of real estate for Cineplex Odeoen and has participated in
the development of numerous entertainment and retail venues in 30 states and the United
Kingdom, France, Germany and Japan.
In addition to retaining Gibbs and Mitchell, Town Center, LLC has assembled a number of
consultants, architects and engineers, marketing and leasing specialists who are
contributing their expertise to create the new redeveloped retail center. Specialists
include architecture and design firms Babcock Design Group and the Schiel Collaborative.
For more information, contact Bruce Broadhead, managing member, Town Center, LLC,
801-295-6255 or Stephen Gilmore, managing member, Town Center, LLC, 702-547-1622; Robert
Gibbs, managing principal, Gibbs Planning Group, 248-642-4800; Ira Mitchell, president,
IJM Associates, 310-230-1340; Fred Babcock, Babcock Design, 801-531-1144; Brent Cook,
president, Sports Mall Inc., 801-261-3429.