By Kathleen Vereen Dayton, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, S.C. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Feb. 18--Myrtle Beach mall is 80 percent leased, 90 percent complete and on schedule to open in 27 days.
Mall developers and management gave local news media a tour of the massive project Tuesday morning and also released the names of 15 new retailers that have signed leases.
Stores new to the area include After Hours, Brookstone, Inc., Charlotte Russe, Hot Topic, Swim 'n Sport, and Swirl. Restaurants announced Tuesday include Red Lobster and Smokey Bones.
'We're opening over 80-percent occupied, which we think is excellent for a project this size,' said Michael Leibovitz, senior vice president of mall projects for CBL & Associates Properties, Inc., which is developing the mall along with Burroughs & Chapin Co. Inc.
Patrice Duker, spokeswoman for the International Council of Shopping Centers, said it looks as though the mall has done a good job of attracting retailers.
'If a brand-new mall is opening 80-percent occupied, they're very close to the national average and they're opening very strong,' Duker said. 'It does show that your market is probably growing and is a good area for retailers to expand to.'
Duker said the average occupancy rate for malls in the third quarter of 2003 was 92 percent.
New malls need at least a year to benchmark themselves against those statistics, Duker said.
'Everybody would love to be 100 percent leased, but when there is open space it allows for temporary tenants, seasonal tenants or new stores to the area to test out a concept,' Duker said. 'It's a good strategy. Someone may come out of the woodwork and say, 'I want to make our home base your market.'' Blair Jennings, Coastal Grand's assistant marketing director, said shopping centers open in phases in order to leave room for big-name retailers.
Myrtle Beach does not yet have the year-round population and annual income per household necessary to attract some large retailers.
Coastal Grand will open with three anchors -- Belk, Dillard's and Sears -- and will have two anchor spaces reserved for future development.
The mall will also open with three large-space tenants: Bed, Bath & Beyond, Dick's Sporting Goods, and a 14-screen Cinemark Theater, the first in Horry County with stadium seating.
While the mall's grand opening is scheduled for March 17, its three department stores will open on March 13. The three anchors are two-story stores with the first escalators in Horry County outside of the airport.
Shoppers entering through the main entrance will walk or drive through a rounded porte cochere architecturally reminiscent of a lighthouse. Once inside, a central hallway leads past the movie theater and into the food court, highlighted with vaulted ceilings, whitewashed wood beams, jewel-colored lighting fixtures and a hand painted mural depicting the Myrtle Beach of old-fashioned postcards.
The food court area flows into the mall's center court, dominated by a terrazzo floor inlaid with a sunburst design with compass points. Avenues of retailers branch out from either side and lead to Belk, Dillard's and Sears.
Storefronts vary in architecture and exhibit a variety of materials including brick, wood and Spanish tile.
Stacie Dickerson, marketing director for Coastal Grand, said none of the mall's outparcels will open when the mall opens March 17, but a Sticky Fingers restaurant will be under construction by that time and will be followed by Buckhead Brewery.
With more than 100 stores and at least 20 outparcels upon completion, the entire Coastal Grand development will be 1.5 million square feet.
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(c) 2004, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, S.C. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
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