Western Real Estate Business magazine covers the multifamily, retail, office, healthcare, industrial and hospitality sectors in the Western United States.
Issue link: https://westernrealestatebusiness.epubxp.com/i/873170
68 • September 2017 • Western Real Estate Business www.REBusinessOnline.com CREATING COHESIVE SPACES As retailers influence more design in retail and mixed-use, developers begin to tailor more projects to the region and municipality, say experts at design firm CSHQA. Interview by Randall Shearin D esigning for retailers and de- velopers has changed during the past few years, as both par- ties have altered their environments. Retailers want environments that of- fer consumers more experience and customer interaction, while develop- ers require environments that foster those experiences and interactions. To developers, that means more space dedicated to social interaction and downtime. WREB's sister publication, Shopping Center Business, recently interviewed Jim Marsh, Steve Wakeman and KK Lipsey of CSHQA, a Boise, Idaho- based firm with offices in Denver, Phoenix and Sacramento that works with retailers and mixed-use develop- ers on unique environments. Retail is the property type that has helped grow your business. The firm has been based in Boise for many years, but you've grown because of your relationships. Can you explain that? Marsh: We've been in Boise for 127 years, so we have a long history here. We originally made strides across the nation with Albertsons, whose local headquarters is here. We followed them, and also did a lot of Safeway work, through our Sacramento office. Denver was an opportunity to grow, and we expanded there about 10 years ago. Lipsey: We did a Wild Oats project in Boulder, Colorado, then they were ac- quired by Whole Foods. Now Whole Foods is a major client in the moun- tain west, and in Washington, too. Whole Foods takes us with them, or sometimes a developer wants us to work with them. It's an interesting mix. Whole Foods drives a lot of de- cisions about who is going to anchor and where it is going to be. Who are some of the other retailers you are working with? Lipsey: Besides Albertsons, Safeway and Whole Foods we've also worked with Walgreens for a number of years, and RiteAid in the past. We are work- ing with Qdoba in Colorado. We have worked with Lithia Motors, an auto dealership group, and have been one of their go-to firms in Montana, Ida- ho, Washington and Oregon. In Cali- fornia, we've been designing Dunkin' Donuts and Dutch Brothers pad retail. Dutch Brothers has been interesting; they're very small stores with very complicated entitlements. We also design concessions in air- ports, which includes national chains such as Einstein Bagel Co. At the same time, concessions with our airport cli- ents are getting more local. In Boise, Bardenay Restaurant is a pub house with a full bar, great food, and higher- end family dining. We helped them put in a nice restaurant in the Boise airport. So that's an interesting cross- over, working with them in their retail and then over into their concessions. Marsh: We've done that with national retailers, such as Ling and Louie's, which is a smaller, fusion food restau- rant. We assisted them in attaining a spot in the Dallas-Fort Worth airport. How are retailers pushing design forward, with the request to be more experiential in nature? How are they leaning on architecture firms to do that? Marsh: It's two-fold. You've got de- velopers who now are trying to make sure that they have that experiential site while the development works as a whole. Working with Whole Foods and through their processes to create an experiential product has drawn re- tailers to us to help them develop that [experience] for their stores. We work with Stinker Stations, a convenience store chain, where we take little pieces of those amenities and apply the same functions into a few thousand square feet instead of 40,000 square feet. Lipsey: The experiential concept is filtering over to other national chains. We're just starting work with Qdoba, but they have given us the sense that different stores need to have differ- ent character; a bit of the community which they are built in. It's smart, be- cause design review in some locales is very particular. It also helps them have commonalties. You can always tell you're in a Whole Foods when you're in a Whole Foods, even if exte- rior and other elements are different. What are some of the guidelines re- tail clients give you? Marsh: Retailers are looking for that mix of tenants. They are analyzing whether you need a heavy food and beverage side to anchor things, and really get the experiential nature of things. I don't think that was as true before. There is still is a fair amount of standard, in-line retail where ev- eryone wants to have the same size. But we're starting to see a turn. Some of the bigger national chains might be a little more challenging to break out of the box than some of smaller, independent chains. Developers un- derstand great food and places where people can stay and linger are key to making an active and thriving center. Have you seen clients ask for more differentiated finishes or amenities that are different than what they had in the past? Marsh: Absolutely. I think everyone follows trends in colors and materials. We're starting to see that lighting is key. That's one of the places CSHQA delivers with in-house lighting de- signers and electrical engineers. We see retailers requesting lighting con- trol to set moods and display prod- ucts. Image courtesy of CSHQA Retailers are understanding that creating stores that fit their environments builds a bond with shoppers. Pictured is an Albertsons store in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.