By Peter Madrid | MadridMedia

Chris Mackay, the Community and Economic Development Director for the City of Phoenix, enjoys reminiscing about her high school years, hanging out with friends at some of the Valley’s iconic early shopping destinations.

Paradise Valley Mall. Phoenix Metrocenter Mall. Park Central Mall.

Once popular destinations, they eventually gave way to the mega malls in the Valley’s suburbs. Now, however, all three are making a comeback – and in big ways.

ULI Arizona hosted a compelling panel discussion diving deep into the transformative journeys of mall redevelopments in the Valley.  As the retail landscape continues to evolve, many traditional malls have faced challenges in remaining relevant and engaging.

There is a transformation underway – promoting sustainable redevelopment strategies for malls while creating dynamic and inclusive urban landscapes that inspire and benefit all members of the community.

What has led to this “mall evolution” is collaboration between developers, architects, urban planners, and local governments to design and implement innovative and mixed-use redevelopment projects; encouraging economic diversification by integrating retail, residential, office, and recreational elements into mall spaces.

“We are witnessing the natural evolution of the reimaging, and rethinking of an iconic Valley shopping center,” said moderator Steve Betts, Managing Director, Development, Holualoa Companies, highlighting the redevelopment of the new Park Central, where the ULI event was held.

“All these sites are different. It is an urban infill location here and at Metrocenter. What they do have in common is a developer that assembled the site and found the team to develop it with the same vision,” Betts said.

Mackay was also a panelist. She gave the perspective of a municipality and how it fits into the reimaging process.

“Cities have a great roll to play, helping to work things out if you don’t have all the owners agreeing on a certain development,” she said. “There are some rights over the entire project. You can’t just come in and redevelop a project, whether it is occupied or not. We ask, ‘How can we be helpful to you now and in the future? It’s worth this value to us.’”

The design of a redevelopment is one of the factors to consider, said Jason Ploszaj, AIA, NCARB, Principal with RSP. He said design is often driven by the big box, which can own the “hole in the doughnut,” with the rest of the mall owned by another entity.

“Design can be driven by the big box, because it’s still there,” Ploszaj said. “In some cases, they own the ‘hole’ land. Metrocenter still has some entitlements in place. We have to determine what makes sense and forecast, when it’s finally under construction, what will the market look like? At Metrocenter, the Walmart is still doing well.

“Another big box, a self-storage company is in the middle. This is a great change similar to other regional mall sites. It creates challenges, but it also creates opportunities. Our job is to think how we can use it to our advantage.”

The city. The design. Another piece in the redevelopment pipeline is the investors.

“Any project of this (redevelopment) magnitude is going to have a cascading effect,” said Marc Bonilla, Principal of VIAONE Development. “You sit down with the city and analyze, ‘What does market need, what does the community need. The Valley has matured so much.

“Look at the amenity profile and the employment profile coming back inward. How do we create urban corridors? And how do we better plan out what our community looks like? How do we create communities that people want to live in based on the generational shift?”