Major Developer Buys Cda Mall Jp Realty Adds Silver Lake Mall To Spokane Valley Project
Coeur d’Alene gained some retail clout Thursday when Spokane Valley Mall owner JP Realty Inc. announced its purchase of Silver Lake Mall.
The Salt Lake City-based developer bought Coeur d’Alene’s 300,000-square-foot mall for $27 million from Roebbelen Engineering Inc. of California. JP Realty has been a partial owner of the mall since it opened in 1989 and has managed it since last year.
With full ownership, however, JP Realty could promote the Spokane Valley Mall and Silver Lake together as a package, said G. Rex Frazier, JP Realty president.
“It helps when working with retailers that you can accommodate them with two locations,” Frazier said. “We are able to meet their needs better.”
That could bode well for Coeur d’Alene, some commercial real estate experts said.
“JP Realty has the power to bring retailers to Coeur d’Alene that might not have considered it before,” said John Morrow, of Situs Realty Co. in Spokane. “It might speed up Coeur d’Alene’s introduction to stores like The Gap, The Limited and Eddie Bauer.”
Other retail experts, however, said JP Realty’s purchase of Silver Lake Mall is just an affirmation of Coeur d’Alene’s already emerging retail core.
The area’s population growth has spurred dramatic new development, said Steve Ridenour, manager of development services for Coldwell Banker Schneidmiller Realty in Coeur d’Alene. As examples, Ridenour pointed to the arrival of Fred Meyer, Home Depot and a 22-acre medical complex on U.S. Highway 95.
“It’s Coeur d’Alene’s turn,” Ridenour said. “The major retailers have identified Coeur d’Alene as an extended trade area. They’re looking at it as being a new marketplace.”
Ridenour’s company is marketing Silver Lake Center, a proposed 70-acre retail development that will abut Silver Lake Mall.
JP Realty currently owns interests in 45 properties, including 12 enclosed regional malls, 24 anchored community centers, three free-standing retail properties and six mixed-use commercial/business properties.
Frazier did not elaborate on plans for the mall. However, he said, three acres are available for further development. He did not rule out the possibility of adding another anchor tenant to the mix, which includes J.C. Penney, Sears, Emporium and Lamonts.
Examples of anchor tenants represented in JP Realty’s other malls, but not located in Coeur d’Alene are: The Bon Marche, Herberger and Dillard’s.
A project currently under way to expand Sears to 95,000 square feet from 52,000 is to be completed at Silver Lake in the third quarter of 1997. J.C. Penney also has received the right to expand.
The Spokane Valley Mall, due to open in August, comprises 750,000 square feet of retail space, with anchors The Bon Marche, Sears, J.C. Penney and a multiplex cinema.
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