Village squares are models for new shopping centers

The sleek modernist lines of Town & Country Mall, surrounded by acres of parking lot, are gone, and in their place is a contemporary version of the village square.

It's now called CityCentre - a place where mothers push baby carriages and little boys chase each other across a plaza, surrounded by cafes and shops on a warm February afternoon.

The bustle is reminiscent of courthouse squares in small towns across Texas, or the cobblestone high streets found in most European cities. But it's a privately owned and operated development, with carefully chosen tenants. Everything is meticulously planned, from the evening concerts to the quarterly fun runs. And it just might represent the future of brick-and-mortar retail in the age of internet shopping.

"It's our job to seek out tenants that are compelling enough for people to actually go to," said Jonathan Brinsden, CEO of Midway, the developer of CityCentre. "You can buy things on Amazon. So what is it that you are selling, or what experience are you offering, that is compelling enough for me to go to your store?"

If the indoor shopping centers with vaulted ceilings, and no windows, were the cathedrals of the 1970s and 1980s, Town & Country Mall was a fine example. The L-shaped mall covered 37 acres and boasted three major department stores, including Neiman Marcus.

Retail developers, though, built too many malls, and frankly, many were of poor quality. If they weren't maintained, they aged quickly. Town & Country competed with nearby Memorial City Mall when the 1980s oil bust hit and American tastes changed. The indoor mall's artificial world began to feel more manipulative than comforting.

Even if the structure was badly dated by 2004, the affluent neighborhood appealed to Midway executives. They recognized that the intersection of Interstate 10 and Beltway 8 was the demographic center of Greater Houston, equidistant to both downtown and Katy, with 2 million people living within a 20-minute drive.

"We decided to scrap the mall and the anchors, but we left the garages," said Brad Freels, chairman of Midway.

Freels and Brinsden visited 27 mixed-used projects in 17 cities looking for inspiration, but they also studied the location.

While Memorial City, a traditional mall, remained down the road, no one had built any class A apartments since 1971. The newest full-service hotel was from 1984. They also recognized the need for office space with amenities between Westchase and the Energy Corridor.

"Putting these things together is like a Rubik's Cube," Brinsden said. "The retail is front and center, since that's what creates the street. But the center is 2 million square feet and the retail is 400,000."

Midway followed the mixed-use new urbanism game plan, centering the development on a restaurant-lined plaza where people can gather. The Hotel Sorella on the west side casts a cooling shadow in the afternoon, while the surrounding four-story buildings are designed to funnel breezes to the plaza and patio seating.

CityCentre had the bad luck of opening in 2008 during the worst days of the Great Recession. Nevertheless, Freels remained committed to establishing a high-end brand.

"We don't lease space. We curate tenants. There is a reason Lululemon is across from Lifetime Athletic," he said.

Instead of department stores as anchors, Midway chose a fitness center and a dine-in movie theater.

"If you're going to become part of a community, how do we make CityCentre a part of people's daily lives? The two easiest ones are fitness, because they are coming three to five days a week, probably, and the other one is restaurants," Brinsden said.

Brinsden and Freels, though, are quick to point out that their developments are intended to meet customer demand. Smart design can't make up for a bad location, which is why he says Greenspoint Mall was doomed from the beginning.

"You didn't have a social fabric that defined that area that would make it sustainable for the long term. It was a stopgap because people were moving to The Woodlands and Champions, and the retailers hadn't accepted it yet," he said. "I'm not sure if you gave it to us we could fix it."

Midway is more optimistic about the old KBR industrial site east of downtown, where there is enough room to build a new neighborhood along a mile of Buffalo Bayou. The area has established residents, and old commercial land is being redeveloped as residential.

"The brand idea behind that is going to be more urban, gritty and industrial," Brinsden said.

With online shopping growing at 15 percent a year, retail developers and their tenants are recognizing that they are in the experience business just as much as the sales business. People want to go outside, see other people, find new things, enjoy a meal and feel entertained. Shops that surprise and impress will do much better than those that sell commodities.

The village square is as old as human civilization. Freels and Brinsden recognize that not every visit needs to result in a commercial transaction, but if you create a place where people want to spend time, the commerce will follow.