Retail redevelopment is increasing as landlords look for ways to remain competitive with online platforms. Generally—as we have seen in new construction retail—consumers today are driven to retail hubs that have a sense of place and offer a community gathering areas. Retail landlords in both infill urban environments as well as suburban markets are looking into redevelopment to evolve with the market.

“About 50% of our work right now is redevelopment of retail centers, so half is ground up and half is repositioning,” Greg Lyon, co-owner, design director and principal at Nadel Architects, tells GlobeSt.com. “We have ground up that is in tertiary markets as well as urban cores, and we have redevelopment projects that are in both tertiary and urban infill markets.”

In Los Angeles, major landlords have invested a significant amount of capital for redevelopment, specifically the Century City Mall, which just completed an $800 million redevelopment where the landlord took the property down to its bones, and at the Beverly Center, which is undergoing a $500 million renovation. “Part of redevelopment is the reality that the urban fabric is getting denser, and those are already properties in incredible locations. There is no new piece of land that has those qualities,” Lyon says. “It makes sense to go in and value-add for those properties in top locations.”