Representatives from The Mills Corp., Westfield Corp. and Federal Realty Investment Trust cited examples ranging from a new 100,000-sf children's attraction called Wannado City at Sawgrass Mills in Ft. Lauderdale, FL to a 250,000-sf indoor ski facility under way at the Meadowlands Xanadu retail-entertainment center in New Jersey. They also discussed combinations like Target and Nordstrom in the same center and a public storage facility co-existing as a tenant with traditional retailers.

Wannado City and the ski facility are both at Mills Corp. properties, Jay Buckley, that company's SVP of leasing, described Wannado City as a miniature city for children that features a bank, restaurants, a fire department, its own street layout and a variety of businesses where children can simulate adult experiences like buying an airline ticket, taking a simulated flight, shopping, working at one of the businesses, and opening a bank account.

The indoor ski facility under way at Mills' Xanadu property will be comparable to a 17-story, 250,000-sf facility that is already operating at Mills' Madrid (Spain) Xanadu, Buckey said. The Mills SVP characterized Wannado City and the ski center as two of the most unusual examples that illustrate the company's philosophy of attempting to differentiate its operations from other shopping centers and providing shoppers with new and unusual reasons for going to a mall and staying longer.