Mall Developer Jabs Rivals Access, Surface Parking Give Edge To New Valley Mall, Frazier Says

Today’s retailers are more interested in opening stores in suburban malls than they are in downtown shopping centers, Rex Frazier, president of JP Realty Inc., said Tuesday.

Salt Lake City-based JP Realty is the owner and developer of the Spokane Valley Mall, which is being built north of Interstate 90 at Sullivan. The mall is due to open in August.

“People are not comfortable going into parking garages. We stay away from them like the plague,” Frazier said, taking a jab at two competitors, downtown’s River Park Square and north Spokane’s NorthTown Mall.

No parking garage is planned for the Valley Mall. Parking spaces will surround the 750,000-square-foot mall, which will be anchored by The Bon Marche, Sears, J.C. Penney and a 12-screen cinema.

“The easy-in, easy-out (shopping centers) will be successful,” Frazier said.

Frazier spoke to about 100 people Tuesday as part of the Dean’s Business Forum at Gonzaga University’s School of Business Administration.

Responding to questions from the audience, Frazier said downtown shopping areas can be successful only if they are well-planned.

River Park Square is proposing a $100 million redevelopment project that will include a new Nordstrom store, a 24-screen cinema and other shops that developers say will be unique specialty retailers. It’s come under fire because the city of Spokane is helping developers arrange financing for the project.

Frazier said the Valley Mall will be more convenient and accessible than both its major competitors, NorthTown and River Park Square.

“Here’s the paid advertisement,” he joked. “You come off the South Hill, you take a right and you’re nine minutes from the mall. My friendly competitor up north, it’s not as convenient.”

Representatives of both NorthTown Mall and River Park Square attended Frazier’s speech and responded to his comments afterward.

“He’s 10 miles out, I’m only three miles,” said Laurent Poole, executive vice president of Seattle-based Sabey Corp., owner of NorthTown. “The real test is going to be what people like.”

Betsy Cowles, president of the two companies that own River Park Square, said the downtown shopping center is not intended as a competitor for either NorthTown or the Valley Mall. It will serve a specific niche, she said, with more upscale shops and restaurants.

Malls are changing, Frazier said. They used to be driven by stores that sold women’s clothing. Now, specialty retailers are filing for bankruptcy in huge numbers, and as they go out of business, anchor department stores pick up the slack.

Malls also are becoming more entertainment driven, Frazier said. Bookstores are larger and more interactive and movie theaters have returned to malls as anchor tenants.

At the Valley Mall, ACT III Theaters of Portland is building a 12-screen cinema. River Park Square also plans a multiplex cinema, and plans to redevelop NorthTown call for a multiplex as well.

Frazier promised that his company would be a “major corporate citizen” and said the Spokane Valley Mall would be an asset to the community. A strong regional economy benefits everyone, he added.

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