Written by: Randy Chow 🇺🇸
Image via: Flickr (Will B-More Retail)
Representatives from Quantum Corporation discussed their plans to redevelop Beltway Plaza Mall and their financial difficulties with their Breezewood Drive residential development project, on Wednesday at a Greenbelt work session.
David Sullivan, a Quantum Corporation representative, estimated that the residential project cost exceeds $100 million. Sullivan cited higher interest rates as a hurdle in gaining funding.
“We don’t have financing right now,” Sullivan said. “We’re working on getting that financing secured in place … it’s a little bit on hold.”
Quantum’s conceptual site plan reduces the mall’s retail space from 900,000 square feet to 700,000, and it needs approval from the Detailed Site Plan. Construction could begin within the next “couple of years,” including three new buildings, a hotel and a public area along Breezewood Drive.
The hotel’s development, which is not imminent, will be behind the Shell gas station on Breezewood Drive, said Sullivan.
Quantum first sought approval for a conceptual site plan in 2006. Sullivan cited higher interest rates as a hurdle in gaining funding.
Sullivan clarified that there are “no issues” with the mall’s redevelopment financing. A definitive timeline for the residential project cannot be made without first securing financing.
Council member Rodney Roberts asked if Quantum has any plans to improve the mall’s appearance.
“The interior, the exterior, a lot of it, I hate to say, is a little tired,” Roberts said.
Quantum intends to paint the mall’s interior and pave and re-pave the exterior to “make it new and fresh,” said Sullivan.
Mayor Emmett Jordan described Beltway Plaza Mall as one of the city’s economic drivers. He asked if the shift to self checkout machines at the mall’s retail stores is related to shoplifting.
“Some stores are finding that the self checkouts are not as economically beneficial as they hoped because of theft,” Sullivan said.
He added that the goal to save money from reducing the number of employees and rely on self checkout has been mitigated by the “shrink” from shoplifting. Sullivan said COVID-19 and the internet have also contributed to the loss of retail business revenue. Quantum Corporation is working on trying to fill the space left by T.J. Maxx after its 10-year lease. T.J. Maxx and Big Lots are the biggest areas in the mall that are not leased, about 65,000 square feet combined.
“The problem is [leasing] the bigger spaces inside the mall,” Sullivan said. “And that’s true nationwide. We have a lot of department stores that are leaving … It’s not necessarily anything related to Beltway Plaza.”
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