I'd suggest we in Cleveland don't even know what modern sprawl is... See:  Atlanta  Indianapolis, Columbus... Cleveland doesn't make the top 40 in sprawl on a list of cities like that. 

 

Ours is a little different because it's older and more institutionalized.  The suburban ring around Cleveland closed in 1960 or so and the "a word" became obscene to that inner ring about 30 seconds later.

Of course Cleveland would have been just like Atlanta, Columbus and Indianapolis had we seen a much stronger economy over the past 40 years like they did.  Slow to no job growth and slow to no metro population growth (which is directly tied to jobs moving out) is essentially why we don't see the sprawl that other metros do.  Its definitely not because we thwarted it in the 1960s and lead a mission to not let our city sprawl like others were at the time.  We bled our inner city of roughly 65% of its residents, and set up a new "camp" for them, and us, about 15 miles further out. 

However, duri g the 60's and 70's when the inner rings were growing like mad because of the bleeding, I think there was this perceived notion by many that the region was growing like it always had been in the early 20th century, and we reacted as such with more freeway lanes and other infrastructure upgrades.  That is what we are paying for today.

A developer wants to build new retail in Strongsville: Lots of discussion on here about sprawl.

 

A developer wants to add retail in Beachwood or Orange: Lots of discussion on here about what types of stores will be in it.

 

Hate to tell you guys but Beachwood, Westlake and Orange are just other high-end versions of Strongsville.

 

Actually, in fairness to this project it will eliminate vacant office buildings and the developer will at least try to entice a tenant to the remaining larger one. Isn't the redundant project in Orange off of I-271 just plowing over woods?

 

 

In Greater Cleveland, all new retail and housing destroys old retail and old housing no matter where each is located. It's a zero-sum game in a no-growth metro. The only place where I believe new retail and housing are good is in under-served inner-city neighborhoods including downtown. The reason is that it weakens the market's capacity to add retail/housing in suburban areas. But you'd have to build a lot of it to make a meaningful dent in the sprawl. I seem to recall Tom Bier estimating the new urban housing inventory necessary to stop or stunt sprawl is 3,000 urban housing units per year.

In Greater Cleveland, all new retail and housing destroys old retail and old housing no matter where each is located. It's a zero-sum game in a no-growth metro. The only place where I believe new retail and housing are good is in under-served inner-city neighborhoods including downtown. The reason is that it weakens the market's capacity to add retail/housing in suburban areas. But you'd have to build a lot of it to make a meaningful dent in the sprawl. I seem to recall Tom Bier estimating the new urban housing inventory necessary to stop or stunt sprawl is 3,000 urban housing units per year.

 

Ken, I agree. Strongsville and Greater Cleveland doesn't need this but at least it's not plowing over vacant land.

 

You always talk about sprawl in a balanced way. Others not so much. If it's off of I-271 it's more about the quality of the stores and less about the need for any of this additional retail. Then Strongsville gets a project and it's sprawl, sprawl, sprawl. People need to realize all of it is bad for the region.

 

So what is the solution? What are other regions doing that are controlling growth better than NEO? How does NOACA tell Strongsville or Orange they should look out for the greater good of the region? I recently moved back to the area after being away for 15 years and I'm saddened by the strip malls, that were new when I left in 2000, are now full of dollar stores, discount furniture store, etc and a few miles away are the movie theaters or more popular stores. We all know that in another 5 years the dollar store strip malls will be vacant and the current strip malls will be filled with dollar stores and there will be a bright shiny new development where there is currently a forest. How can it be stopped?

Strongsville and Beachwood periphery development is similar to me -- sprawl.  Beachwood is a little closer to the developed suburban grid and rail transit than Strongsville, but it's pretty much 6 in one hand, half-dozen in the other... The long-held feeling is that Greater Cleveland is 'over-store-d"; that we shopping centers and malls, often with the same stores, about every 3 to 5 mile hop and that, even though the overall population is not growing, the retail and residential growth is over a wider area ... that's the classic definition of sprawl.

A developer wants to build new retail in Strongsville: Lots of discussion on here about sprawl.

 

A developer wants to add retail in Beachwood or Orange: Lots of discussion on here about what types of stores will be in it.

 

Hate to tell you guys but Beachwood, Westlake and Orange are just other high-end versions of Strongsville.

 

Actually, in fairness to this project it will eliminate vacant office buildings and the developer will at least try to entice a tenant to the remaining larger one. Isn't the redundant project in Orange off of I-271 just plowing over woods?

 

You're not entirely wrong, though knowing the eastside I do believe there is some difference between Beachwood and Orange. Beachwood grew very organically as a second-ring suburb following World War II (and has the current density to back it up), where as Orange has traditionally been more a semi-rural outer-ring suburb that is cynically trying to make a play for retail revenue near its western border in an area that you correctly point out is already oversaturated.

A developer wants to build new retail in Strongsville: Lots of discussion on here about sprawl.

 

A developer wants to add retail in Beachwood or Orange: Lots of discussion on here about what types of stores will be in it.

 

Hate to tell you guys but Beachwood, Westlake and Orange are just other high-end versions of Strongsville.

 

Actually, in fairness to this project it will eliminate vacant office buildings and the developer will at least try to entice a tenant to the remaining larger one. Isn't the redundant project in Orange off of I-271 just plowing over woods?

 

You're not entirely wrong, though knowing the eastside I do believe there is some difference between Beachwood and Orange. Beachwood grew very organically as a second-ring suburb following World War II (and has the current density to back it up), where as Orange has traditionally been more a semi-rural outer-ring suburb that is cynically trying to make a play for retail revenue near its western border in an area that you correctly point out is already oversaturated.

 

Beachwood's population density is 2250

Westlake's density is around 2050

Strongsville's density is around 1825.

You are right about Orange. It's density is below 1000.

 

Same, same, same. In fact Beachwood and Westlake are losing population now while Strongsville is stable. Those numbers are coming closer together.

So what is the solution? What are other regions doing that are controlling growth better than NEO? How does NOACA tell Strongsville or Orange they should look out for the greater good of the region? I recently moved back to the area after being away for 15 years and I'm saddened by the strip malls, that were new when I left in 2000, are now full of dollar stores, discount furniture store, etc and a few miles away are the movie theaters or more popular stores. We all know that in another 5 years the dollar store strip malls will be vacant and the current strip malls will be filled with dollar stores and there will be a bright shiny new development where there is currently a forest. How can it be stopped?

 

Welcome back to the area! We're having a similar discussion on Facebook where a friend of mine from Canada proposed a retail moratorium similar to ones done in his country. He noted that the municipality of Ottawa had strict controls on retail development in the 1970s and 1980s. Almost all major suburban retail was banned until the downtown retail area regained some prominence in the regional retail landscape. This is why the largest mall in the Ottawa region was built downtown, as it was the only spot you could expand retail in Ottawa.

 

But Canadian cities (and many European ones) are managed by regional governments which we lack in the USA and especially in Ohio. Thus there is no governing body with the power to establish and enforce retail moratoriums in a metro area like Greater Cleveland that is highly balkanized among 200 local governments all of whom are competing with (ie: trying to take from) each other while hampered or aided by various advantages and disadvantages such as having cleaned/cleared land available. Or, there are state/federal public infrastructure assistance programs that were originally created to help old cities revitalize themselves but since were expanded so that new communities could be built at the expensive of reviving old communities. Or, there's the age of a community as an advantage/disadvantage, as new communities' tax rates lag their development, thus older communities always have higher costs and taxes.

I don't think you can, or maybe should tell people to stop building houses and then retail and restaurants in the neighborhoods around those houses. I mean, everyone knows Orange has the top school district in all of NE OH, or at least they are way up there, and Solon, also full of sprawl and traffic, is in the top 5 as well. Strongsville is also a strong district, though not as strong as they used to be as I understand it, but people want to live there because a) they can have a decent amount of land and b) SCHOOLS. Until someone fixes schools in the city and in the closest inner ring suburbs, the vast majority of the people these retail businesses are serving, who are parents of school aged children, or of those who recently graduated from school, they're not going to want to live further in.

 

People are regularly driving an hour-plus back and forth to work every day so they can live in communities where there are good schools and they can have a big house and a big yard. That's what they want. I can't blame the retail and restaurants for springing up around them. I do agree it isn't necessarily sustainable but that's because our whole region is shrinking, not because fewer people are living in Beachwood or Strongsville and are choosing to go somewhere else in NE Ohio. Turnover on houses in these areas is still pretty quick from what i understand of my friends who sell real estate. Good houses go in a week or less. So there is demand, even if it's slower because of the shrinking region.

 

I do agree it is toxic and bad for our downtown core. I hate the fact that more and more jobs are way, way east and there's fewer and fewer opportunities to work downtown but at some point, you have to realize the reason they are settling in these places is because the schools are better.

 

I don't know how to fix the schools. Thankfully that is not my job. And I do hate the sprawl myself, because it's a lot of driving, but bigger cities are even more sprawled out and they have the people to sustain it. It's normal for people in larger cities to drive a half hour to a place for dinner because everyone else is driving the same amount of time to get everywhere they go because there are so many people there, that's just how it is. I don't think being spread out per se is inherently bad, but if you don't have the people to sustain it, that's when it gets bad. And we don't. And more are leaving. Because of the schools and because there aren't enough jobs.

It seems as though existing infrastructure that simply needs to be maintained (in an inner-ring suburb,) would inevitably cause less of a tax burden than a brand new community in the exurbs starting from scratch. Rennovation of commercial buildings also seems much cheaper than new construction. How is it that new communities don't immediately experience a more substantial tax burden? Does it have to do with terms of financing for the expansion/installation of new utilities?

 

There are actually state and federal infrastructure assistance programs for sprawly cornfield commercial and retail uses?! No one in their right mind would think that new communities should have access to those funds while inner cities are struggling. Urban sprawl doesn't seem to be as much of a hot topic as it was 10 years ago but the problems we're facing now seem no different from before. The only difference seems to be that the exurbs are now taking more from the established inner ring suburbs than from the core. Ultimately, the same, absolutely horrible, wasteful pattern still exists.

I hate the fact that more and more jobs are way, way east and there's fewer and fewer opportunities to work downtown but at some point, you have to realize the reason they are settling in these places is because the schools are better.

 

 

That's so annoying. Every time I go job hunting, it seems like almost every decent job opportunity is all the way in Westlake or even Avon. I live all the way in Cleveland Hts. People originally from Cleveland don't seem to think it's that far but it is FAR. I'm used to a more efficient highway system that allows me to get from one end of a metro to another in 15 minutes. Metro Cleveland is far too developed east-west, linearly from downtown.

I can't even apply for those E side jobs. There is no way, especially in winter, that I would be able to pick up my son from after care before it closes. It's really, really far. All the openings I've seen in the past year are basically all East or way way way east (Painesville, Mentor).

 

Cle Hts to Avon would be the same bit of horrible. I lived in Lakewood and worked in Beachwood and that was bad enough that I will never, ever do it again. Everyone in my office was an east sider and I was ALWAYS late in the winter no matter how early I left, and they were always like, well, we didn't have any problems getting in. The E-W commute is a nightmare, particularly on 480/271.

 

If this entire city relocated the center to the E side, I would just leave town. There is just no way I am living on the E side and I am not working over there. I just don't like it.

I know we're drifting off topic (but I'll bring it back to it), but my wife won't even consider jobs that are more than 30 minutes away drive-time. We live in Lakewood and her current job is in North Royalton which takes about 25 minutes to reach under good traffic/weather conditions. And she hates it. So many of the available jobs she's looking at are farther away than that and she doesn't want to consider them.

 

Sooner or later, people move to live closer to where the jobs are and then the retail follows them. The jobs have to be brought back closer to the metro area's geographic center if we want the retail to be brought closer to the center.

I hate the fact that more and more jobs are way, way east and there's fewer and fewer opportunities to work downtown but at some point, you have to realize the reason they are settling in these places is because the schools are better.

 

 

That's so annoying. Every time I go job hunting, it seems like almost every decent job opportunity is all the way in Westlake or even Avon. I live all the way in Cleveland Hts. People originally from Cleveland don't seem to think it's that far but it is FAR. I'm used to a more efficient highway system that allows me to get from one end of a metro to another in 15 minutes. Metro Cleveland is far too developed east-west, linearly from downtown.

 

 

well i dk of any major metro you can drive across in 15 minutes, especially during work rush hours, but anyway being far has nothing to do with your commute. for example, all of of my work sites around the city are less distance than that distance, but all are also longer commutes by any means of transportation i could take. that commute for you is a half hour, which is a dream for most commuters in other big metros. if people think cle is over built for retail thats nothing compared to how overbuilt it is for roads. unfortunately thats a positive that only seems to contribute to more creeping sprawl. and btw ny metro is similarly overbuilt for roads too, so its not nearly the worst example. go to places like orlando, seattle, austin, etc which have boomed and can barely accommodate getting around, or even more established places like la or dc, because they all just dont have enough roads. not that im pro building new highways, lol, but be grateful where you live because many if not most metros struggle with commute times a lot more than ne ohioans.

To Rockandroller:

I'm about to simplify things in possibly an unfair way, but the schools are worse in the inner city because of the shrinking tax base and the flight to the burbs. When all the higher income is living there and property values are higher due to simple economics, of course the schools are better. It isn't a fair fight.

How did Cleveland get split up into all of these small municipalities? How is it that these 200 local communities are allowed to exist, all with their self interest at stake? So inefficient to have 200 city halls/PDs/FDs, but of course, the City of Cleveland has done a poor job at these tasks for decades. SMH. I'll keep reading this forum, so I can make more informed decisions that shape our region. All we can do.

 

Is it happy hour yet? :drunk:

 

 

(Reply cut and reposted to suburban sprawl thread.)

We have a thread for general sprawl discussion already.  Please keep this thread to discussion of retail.  Thank you.

How did Cleveland get split up into all of these small municipalities? How is it that these 200 local communities are allowed to exist, all with their self interest at stake? So inefficient to have 200 city halls/PDs/FDs, but of course, the City of Cleveland has done a poor job at these tasks for decades. SMH. I'll keep reading this forum, so I can make more informed decisions that shape our region. All we can do.

 

 

I've replied here....

 

https://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,7292.msg863896.html#msg863896

The Monica Potter store at the Arcade is closing tomorrow.

J3 in the Arcade closed 3 months ago.

Too bad, although the 5th Street Arcades still seem to be going strong.  There has never been in my opinion, any big effort to draw people to the main Arcade by its owners.  There was a lot of talk but nothing that I've seen.  They need to do something to change people's perceptions that the Arcade is just a beautiful architectural photo spot with nothing more going on that a hotel.  They put in Monica Potter and J3 for the RNC but never really had any signage or real way for people to know they were in there!

Additionally, I know many people use the 5th st Arcade as a cut through to Euclid/PS office space from the Gateway parking garage.  Ergo, there is more exposure to possible shopping than with the Arcade. 

you would think spillover demand by retailers could flow into the Arcade, but perhaps the rent is too high.... and on the Superior level, it looks like the hotel doesn't want to rent the spaces--they seem to use the old shops as storage for tables and such.

I did see some workers in the so far vacant corner spot in the Schofield building at Ninth and Euclid...anyone know anything?  May be nothing.

There's some changes at Legacy Village. Gymboree is closing as part of their bankruptcy. Chipotle is moving to a new space, a couple doors down from Starbucks. The biggest news is that Arhaus is staying. While it was long speculated Arhaus was headed to Pinecrest, they are building a new store at Legacy. Arhaus will take over the entire corner where Chipotle currently sits along with the former Apple store, Cellairis and gelato stand. Tropical Smoothie Cafe will likely close too.  Also, local mattress manufacturer Naturepedic is opening a showroom in the old Sprint store next to Dick's while Black Box Fix is opening in the old Yogurt Vi space.

Alot of good news there, thank you. I hope Tropical Smoothie relocates. I like that place and it always seems to be pretty busy, at least when I'm there.

There's some changes at Legacy Village. Gymboree is closing as part of their bankruptcy. Chipotle is moving to a new space, a couple doors down from Starbucks. The biggest news is that Arhaus is staying. While it was long speculated Arhaus was headed to Pinecrest, they are building a new store at Legacy. Arhaus will take over the entire corner where Chipotle currently sits along with the former Apple store, Cellairis and gelato stand. Tropical Smoothie Cafe will likely close too.  Also, local mattress manufacturer Naturepedic is opening a showroom in the old Sprint store next to Dick's while Black Box Fix is opening in the old Yogurt Vi space.

 

I know this Arhaus "flagship" store plan went before the Lyndhurst Planning Commission a few weeks ago. I have not heard timing (opening this year?) or square feet (current store is, say, 10-12k sf) or if this will be a two-story store like some newly built ones - thiugh believe it will go from front to back (main street from leasing plans I have seen) . At one point I hear Arhaus was thinking 20K at 2 story store at Pinecrest.

 

I still wonder if a Maggiano-less front Beachwood Place entrance becomes a new concept 50K sf multi story Restoration Hardware "RH Gallery"... as a Beachwood RH relocation has been rumored for some time - as well as Pinecrest for this new store type.

 

Tim Hortons donut chain to move into Northeast Ohio with 105 stores (photos)

Updated on Oct 24, 2017 at 09:59 PM EDT

By John Petkovic, The Plain Dealer

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Area fans of Tim Hortons have long-dreaded the hike, er, drive. You see, the closest location of the restaurant chain beloved for its coffee and donuts is in Mansfield.

 

Central and southern Ohio has them. So does Michigan, West Virginia, Indiana, New York and Pennsylvania.

 

Well, Northeast Ohioans can finally rest easy and rejoice: In 2018, the Canadian fast food chain will expand to Northeast Ohio.

 

"We're looking at opening 105 locations starting next year," says Jeff Linville, President of TH Cleveland, the Beachwood-based franchisee for Tim Hortons Bakery and Cafe. "We're currently looking at buying properties and plan to open seven or eight Tim Hortons next year."

 

MORE:

http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2017/10/tim_hortons_donut_chain_to_mov.html

November 03, 2017 2:55 pm      UPDATED 3 HOURS AGO

Kmart store in Cleveland to close

[/size]By[/color] STAN BULLARD This will be the last holiday shopping season for the Kmart store at 14901 Lorain Ave. in Cleveland.

 

Sears Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: SHLD) announced Friday, Nov. 3, that the store is among 45 Kmart stores and 18 Sears stores the Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based retailer will close by the end of January. A Sears Holdings statement said some of the stores will start holding liquidation sales on Thursday, Nov. 9.

 

The closings are the latest the owner of Sears and Kmart stores have set this year as it continues to trim its physical footprint and adapt to online retailing. The Kmart store on Rockside Road in Garfield Heights was targeted for closing in August in another round of shutdowns.

 

MORE:

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20171103/NEWS/171109948/kmart-store-in-cleveland-to-close

It appears that the MetroHome store on the first floor of 1717 has closed its doors. Wild, considering I walked by on Friday and everything was up and running. The entire space is now empty.

It appears that the MetroHome store on the first floor of 1717 has closed its doors. Wild, considering I walked by on Friday and everything was up and running. The entire space is now empty.

 

I don't believe this was entirely a location-based issue, as the Mentor location also closed last year.

It appears that the MetroHome store on the first floor of 1717 has closed its doors. Wild, considering I walked by on Friday and everything was up and running. The entire space is now empty.

 

I don't believe this was entirely a location-based issue, as the Mentor location also closed last year.

 

It was a location based issue. I️ spoke to the owner and he said didn’t justify the rent.

That's a shame. I liked that store. I wonder if they'll be opening a new location around somewhere, even if its not downtown. If I remember correctly, the Mentor store closed because they had opened the Downtown one, and they didn't want two locations.

It appears that Penzies Spices maybe moving from Eton over to the shopping center where Whole Foods currently is in the old Starbucks space

Uh oh. Risky debt is coming due. The greater Cleveland area is especially at risk....

 

America’s ‘Retail Apocalypse’ Is Really Just Beginning

By Matt Townsend, Jenny Surane, Emma Orr and Christopher Cannon

November 8, 2017

 

The so-called retail apocalypse has become so ingrained in the U.S. that it now has the distinction of its own Wikipedia entry.

 

...But chains also said 6,800 would close. And this comes when there’s sky-high consumer confidence, unemployment is historically low and the U.S. economy keeps growing. Those are normally all ingredients for a retail boom, yet more chains are filing for bankruptcy and rated distressed than during the financial crisis. That’s caused an increase in the number of delinquent loan payments by malls and shopping centers.

 

The reason isn’t as simple as Amazon.com Inc. taking market share or twenty-somethings spending more on experiences than things. The root cause is that many of these long-standing chains are overloaded with debt—often from leveraged buyouts led by private equity firms. There are billions in borrowings on the balance sheets of troubled retailers, and sustaining that load is only going to become harder—even for healthy chains.

 

The debt coming due, along with America’s over-stored suburbs and the continued gains of online shopping, has all the makings of a disaster. The spillover will likely flow far and wide across the U.S. economy. There will be displaced low-income workers, shrinking local tax bases and investor losses on stocks, bonds and real estate. If today is considered a retail apocalypse, then what’s coming next could truly be scary.

 

MORE:

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2017-retail-debt/

It appears that the MetroHome store on the first floor of 1717 has closed its doors. Wild, considering I walked by on Friday and everything was up and running. The entire space is now empty.

 

I don't believe this was entirely a location-based issue, as the Mentor location also closed last year.

 

As much as I hate to see anywhere downtown close, I’m not in the least bit surprised by this. Subjectively, their furniture was awful to look at. They were aiming at, and marketing ‘contemporary’, but whoever was designing the stuff had no idea. More objectively, even if I did like anything they had, I couldn’t buy it as they had nothing sized for apartment living. The sofas, credenzas etc were all full sized and built for outer-ring McMansions.

I went in there when it first opened and was quite prepared to drop a few grand on soft furnishings for the apartment I’d just moved into. I spent the money at BO Concepts and IKEA instead.

At Eton, Menchies Yogurt closed and sign already up Kendra Scott coming soon. No sign in the former Penzy’s Spices what is going there

^ i have a work site in dobbs ferry, ny with a menchies next to it. its pretty good i like it. there are good chains lol.

Interesting that the Menchies closed because Stark owns the master franchise for NEO if I'm not mistaken.

I believe you are correct

"master franchise for NEO "  does that mean one person/company owns all stores of a chain within a given market?

my understanding is that Stark owns the rights to Menchies franchises in NEO.  If anyone wants a Menchies they have to go through Stark.  Again, I might be wrong.

I guess this falls under the category of past glory, but a sad comment on not just Cleveland but to some extent all cities, and the decline of the great department stores--

 

Area residents reflect on ‘The Golden Age of Shopping in Downtown Cleveland’

 

http://www.news-herald.com/general-news/20171206/area-residents-reflect-on-the-golden-age-of-shopping-in-downtown-cleveland

WOIO is reporting that Aspire Fitness Center seems to be behind the recent construction at the former Best Buy at Steelyard Commons.

 

http://m.cleveland19.com/story/37022873/construction-happening-inside-former-best-buy-building-in-clevelands-steelyard-commons

They have the signage up at Legacy Village around the old Apple store and tropical smoothie and the old ice cream store where Arhaus is moving

It seems that Cafe Sausalito, which somehow is still going in the Galleria's second floor, is moving to the IMG building fronting East Ninth.  Signs out front say coming soon: Sausalito on Ninth.  I assume it is the same.  Patio has been built out as well.

 

It seems that Cafe Sausalito, which somehow is still going in the Galleria's second floor, is moving to the IMG building fronting East Ninth.  Signs out front say coming soon: Sausalito on Ninth.  I assume it is the same.  Patio has been built out as well.

 

 

That's my building. I feel terrible considering Anna in the Raw had been attempting to expand there for years.

Comings/Goings - 

 

Beachwood Place: A Nespresso (coffee) Boutique opening (no mall announcement but saw recent job postings...) Unclear if in the mall or at LaPlace, which is shown on GGP website as part of mall. In other cities these are destinations/hot spots though unclear if it will have a full cafe like some do (Beverly Hills, etc...).. Originally rumored for Pinecrest...

 

Interesting 2nd hand rumor from local real estate insider last week: Bloomingdale's looking at possible store at or adjacent to Beachwood Place (even mentioned buying homes on some property, which may be confused with Richmond Rd homes mall bought and torn down for expansion). This seems totally "rumor" only - especially Bloomingdale's as the retailer, I just don't buy it (perhaps there was confusion with another retailers actually interested in building there) - and against everything going on in retail today... BUT, the Maggiano's closing/two empty mall front restaurant spaces, stalled western side expansion and total quiet on the mall expansion front for tast year, plus the very competitive market coming with Pinecrest and Van Aken added in 2018, makes me think something of some sort may be up.

 

Side mall note: the weekend evening (and occasional other period) "no unsupervised juveniles" policy does appear to have noticeably changed the nighttime mix of shoppers - and both security and police are  very visible  at entrances. I know there are likely different feelings about the policy on this board, and we all can feel as we feel, but as a shopper, on several recent evenings, I can say that the mall was both fairly busy and had a much more "family" vibe to it... (icluding many actual families and still a wide range of shoppers and ages).

 

Cedar Creek Grille's sister restaurant, Lindey's Lake House, in planning stages at LaPlace, including expansion, and on recent city zoning agenda. 

 

The Michael Kors store on mall first level has closed (one of about 120 stores closing nationwide for this retailer...)

 

Legacy Village: Construction fence/trailer now up for new Arhaus - and interior demolition appears to be beginning. Entire Crate&Barrel side parking lot now turned into construction area, over to side of Brio.

 

Crocker Park: Blue Sushi and Sake (Omaha based small chain) announced and Cantina Laredo Mexican beginning construction near Hyatt Place.

Note: retail on American Greetings end of Crocker, including entire first floor of  building, remains probably 75% vacant some 18 months or more after completion. Challenging environment.