Cowtown
Senior Member
I don't know what to think of the situation. I can't imagine the current businesses are too happy, being that it's almost completely empty.
|
|
|
- Thread starter Surrealplaces
- Start date
I don't know what to think of the situation. I can't imagine the current businesses are too happy, being that it's almost completely empty.
Yeah, it's not looking good as is. That said, the building is built, and it's a nice building. I believe it'll be fine in the long run, but will need some changes. It was originally envisioned as a mall geared towards Pacific rim type businesses, but I bet it will end up as a mall with a middle eastern/Indian flare. I would re-brand it something like 'Surya Mall' and try and get the lease prices down enough to draw more tenants. The stage can be used to support Indian Bollywood dance shows etc.. IMO, there is a large enough South Asian population in that part of Calgary that the mall could support itself on that theme.
darwink
Senior Member
I wonder if the ownership contracts dictate a certain lease rate to try to prevent a "race to the bottom". I feel for the individual investors who seem to have been sold a bill of goods on the demand for retail space like this. If they had an anchor like a T&T this would likely have worked out better.
That's a good question. There could be a low rate limit, but if the place is almost completely empty they may have no choice but to change it. A T&T or something like that would make a big difference....maybe a Basha foods? I keep leaning towards the Asian subcontinent population because all of the people leasing the empty stalls are names of Indian/Pakistani origin. In my 30 minute tour of the building, I noticed that almost all people coming to check the place out were also of that origin. It seems destined for that market.
JonnyCanuck
Senior Member
How did something like this get built if the developer did not already have a certain number of tenants lined up?
As for shoppers, you have to make it a destination of some kind. Right now, it is brand new, shiny, clean, mostly empty space. Why would anyone go there?
As for shoppers, you have to make it a destination of some kind. Right now, it is brand new, shiny, clean, mostly empty space. Why would anyone go there?
Most of the stalls were for lease, and only a few for sale. My guess is, investors from who knows where bought the stalls thinking they would have no problem finding a tenant in a city like Calgary with a large Asian population. I've heard that the lease rates/sq ft aren't good...that you can rent a larger space in a regular mall for not much more. If that is indeed the case, it explains why it's totally empty.
retrofiturbanism
Active Member
You're fun.
gsunnyg
Senior Member
Your most likely bang on there because the initial idea was pitched out as owning ur own little space instead of leasing but I know 2 stalls were bought by a Pakistani businessman in hopes of reselling it or leasing it out to make a quick buck. Basically for all we know the developers could have already made their money selling all the units and now could care less if anyone actually leases all of it out. On top of that, Savannah has another South Asian market/plaza going up in front of a future LRT station next year so I don't know what more New Horizon could offer to lure a large chunk South Asians out of the NE to this mall on the outskirts. I think where they failed was advertising it as an oriental/East Asian only mall, it would have worked better if it was a blend of all ethnicities (Indian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Iranian, Egyptian, Brazilian...etc.). I do hope the mall works for the sake of businesses but at the same time, for malls beyond stoney trail, I don't have much sympathy given the state of so many malls inside of Calgary boundaries that are dying.
Cowtown
Senior Member
I had heard that a 700 sq ft unit was renting at $5,700/month. It's around the same price as Chinook per square foot (a little more actually), but with Chinook you already have the busiest mall in the city. They are definitely going to have to lower their lease rates.
JonnyCanuck
Senior Member
At those rates, the businesses that are set up now are going to go out of business before the spaces are filled up.
haltcatchfire
Senior Member
That mall is such a stupid idea. I bet at proper rates a 70 year old industrial warehouse within the city with stalls divided by G2S plywood would have a higher rental rate. Even with tenants that glass cube mall will be so sterile which is the opposite experience that people are wanting. It needs to be closer to roughness of the stalls of Crossroads Market than the pristine corridors of an airport terminal.
Maybe they should change the sign to "The Shoppes of Cell Phone Accessories"
Maybe they should change the sign to "The Shoppes of Cell Phone Accessories"
Mountain Man
Senior Member
Those lease rates are pretty crazy for a kiosk mall, wonder who decided that amount would be successful...
Cowtown
Senior Member
You bring up a good point about using a warehouse. Any old warehouse in the NE would make a good Oriental/Indian type market building with stall kiosks, as it could be done for very cheap. It might not be the nicest building or ambience, but you could get stalls in there in no time.
retrofiturbanism
Active Member
That's gotta be yearly. That is almost $100/ft2 a year. Chinook doesn't even get that high. $8.14 psf is low for retail, but it fits in considering what the level of fixturing, etc is.
Empty warehouse space is cheap, it leases anywhere from $6/sqft/annual to $20/sqft/annual. If it was say $12/sqft, it would be a buck a month per sq foot, so a 700 sqft stall should in theory be around $700/month cost to the building's leassee. The cost is doable...not sure how the zoning would work for that.