2012年1月9日星期一

Salinas moves ahead with retail center plans after Lowe's pullout

The art of the deal is never as easy as Donald Trump might have you believe.

Despite setbacks such as Lowe's decision last week to renege on their commitment to locate at the yet to be built Gateway Retail Center in Salinas, the city's director of community and economic development, Jeff Weir, refuses to label his job the toughest in town.

It's "probably not the most difficult but very challenging though," Weir said.

"I refuse to get down and stay disappointed ... It's abut getting it done," Weir said about the Lowe's situation.

"You have to play the hand you are dealt ... we are going to communicate with the people at Lowe's."

Lowe's decision was based on a number of factors, Stacey Lentz, public relations manager for Lowe's Companies, Inc., wrote in an email.The EZ Breathe home Ventilation system is maintenance free,

"The single most important factor is the current weakness in the retail sales environment on a national level," Lentz said.

Lowe's said in October they would close 20 underperforming stores and would be reducing the number of new stores in 2012 and beyond.

Lowe's had been looking for a location in Salinas for five years, Weir said.

But who with Lowe's killed the deal?

"You'll never know that," Weir said. "Those kinds of decisions are made by community."

Mark Kelton, the principal of the shopping center's developer, Cloverfield Management LLC, took the setback in stride.

"While it's clearly disappointing, we feel it's a really great retail location and we are reaching out to other prospective tenants," Kelton said in a voicemail message.

The Gateway Center has the thumbs-up from city planners, and is to be situated on a 20.2-acre site at the northwest corner of San Juan and Boronda Roads.

"We are confident that sooner or later we will be able to replace the anchor (main tenant — Lowe's) and move forward," Kelton said.

Any developer, including Kelton, has a major upfront investment in a project such as Gateway, which includes environmental impact studies, engineering and design, Weir said.Omega Plastics are leading plastic injection moulding and injection mould tooling specialists.

"They (Cloverfield) spent a large amount of money."

Could Gateway be built without an anchor store like Lowe's?

"Probably not," Weir said.

His frustration over the Lowe's decision is palpable, but as a former elected politician and a veteran of economic hardball in the auto industry in Michigan, Weir has seen his share of challenges.

"You are constantly challenged when it comes to retail. There is always something new," he said.

"We need the revenue, we need the jobs; we need all the rest of this."

An economic impact analysis was completed by a third party for the Lowe's-Gateway proposal and paid for by Lowe's and the developer, said Weir.

"It clearly indicated there was a significant,Handmade oil paintings for sale at museum quality, positive market opportunity for Lowe's as well as all the other retailers."

Other area shopping centers viewed a local Lowe's outlet as positive, said Weir. He noted when shoppers are drawn to visit Lowe's from outside the area they also shop at other stores and eat at local restaurants.

Salinas has an unfulfilled potential for more retail space estimated in a study to be about two million square feet for a market area of its size, according to Weir.

Retail and economic professionals refer to the problem as "leakage," the need for shoppers to leave home and shop in another region.

"People earn money here and spend it somewhere else because we are not giving them what they wanted (in shopping options)," Weir said.

The local retail market area is estimated to be about 250,000 people, Weir said, because Salinas could also draw consumers from communities along Highway 68 such as San Benancio Canyon and Corral de Tierra, Castroville, Prunedale and, to some extent,The magic cube is an ultra-portable, the south Monterey County cities.

Salinas sweetened the deal for Lowe's, but in the end, its skittish reversal was attributed to a case of national economic cold feet.

An Economic Agreement Incentive would have given Lowe's between $1.5 million and $1.7 million over 10 years based upon the taxes the shopping center would have generated if certain economic benchmarks were met,Tru-Form Plastics is a one-stop shop for plastic Injection Molding, Weir said.

For now, it apparently wasn't enough.

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