ISSAQUAH, WA-GlobeSt.com has learned that Regency Centers, a national owner, operator and developer of grocery-anchored shopping centers, will spend approximately $70 million to construct Grand Ridge Plaza, a 280,113-square-foot shopping center on 24.58 acres that will break ground shortly. Located in the heart of Issaquah Highlands, a master-planned community east of downtown Seattle, the center will be the only major retail center to serve the community and will draw shoppers from around the region.
The open-air, pedestrian-friendly center, designed by Fuller Sears Architects, will be located at Northeast High St. and Ninth Ave. Northeast, and will include a 44,543-square-foot Safeway and a 56,820-square-foot, 12-screen Regal Cinemas. Grand Ridge Plaza’s merchandising will focus on convenience retail, restaurants, entertainment and destination retailers in order to create a regional draw from the nearby Sammamish Plateau, greater Issaquah and Interstate 90. Safeway and the remaining center will open in fourth-quarter 2013, following a first-phase opening of the movie theater in second-quarter 2013.
“Grand Ridge Plaza is one of the last infill development sites in the area and will benefit from limited competition due to high barriers to entry,” said Craig Ramey, SVP for Regency Centers, in a prepared statement. “We are committed to expanding our presence in the Pacific Northwest through the development of quality shopping centers like Grand Ridge Plaza.”
Issaquah Highlands, built by master developer Port Blakely Communities, will include up to 4,540 homes, 3 million square feet of commercial space and more than 1,500 acres of parks, open spaces and trails once fully built out. There are currently 3,310 homes completed or under construction. Designed around principles of new urbanism, the community was among America’s first sustainable urban villages and today serves as a model for developers and builders worldwide.
As GlobeSt.com previously reported, in May an entity of Regency sold the 199,666-square-foot Park Plaza shopping center in San Pedro, CA, to an affiliate of First Washington Realty Inc., a private real estate investment, management and advisory firm, for $62 million after more than 20 bids were received on the property.
In addition, GlobeSt.com reported in March that Regency had started construction of South Bay Village, a 109,293-square-foot neighborhood center in Torrance, CA, anchored by Orchard Supply Hardware and HomeGoods. Located 19 miles south of downtown Los Angeles, the retail center is positioned within the primary retail corridor of South Bay on Hawthorne Boulevard with daily traffic counts of 78,000, according to a prepared statement. Regency Centers told GlobeSt.com at the time that the total construction cost of the development is $30 million. Scheduled anchor openings begin in September 2012.
Also in March, Regency began installing electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at some of its grocery-anchored and community shopping centers in Arizona, California, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas and D.C. Regency is partnering with ECOtality to make the charging stations available at 19 shopping centers. The rollout is part of The EV Project, a national deployment of commercial and residential charging stations in major U.S. cities and metropolitan areas. The project’s goal is to collect data on electric vehicle use, evaluate the effectiveness of EV charging infrastructure and evaluate revenue systems for commercial and public charging stations.
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Carrie Rossenfeld
Carrie Rossenfeld is a reporter for the San Diego and Orange County markets on GlobeSt.com and a contributor to Real Estate Forum. She was a trade-magazine and newsletter editor in New York City before moving to Southern California to become a freelance writer and editor for magazines, books and websites. Rossenfeld has written extensively on topics including commercial real estate, running a medical practice, intellectual-property licensing and giftware. She has edited books about profiting from real estate and has ghostwritten a book about starting a home-based business.
