Creating an outdoor room

The developers of Mashpee Commons transform a lackluster street and balance the mix of local and national retailers. Over the past 10 years, Mashpee Commons’ pedestrian-oriented shopping district has grown incrementally around an outdated strip shopping center on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The pioneering new urbanist retail development now houses close to 100 commercial tenants and has approximately 255,000 square feet of retail, office, and entertainment facilities completed. The most recent construction activity in Mashpee Commons has created a two-sided street where the renovated shopping center previously faced a parking lot. Last summer, developer Douglas Storrs built four 24-foot-deep liner buildings at the edge of the parking lot and added parallel parking on both sides of the street. Two larger retail buildings have recently been completed at each end of the street and serve as terminating vistas. Not only has the double-loaded street generated a significant increase in pedestrian activity, Storrs says, but the new buildings define the edges of an attractive, outdoor room. Storrs chose the shallow liner buildings in part because he needed to preserve as many parking spaces as possible. But more importantly, the 16 retail spaces, ranging in size from 350 to 425 square feet, are a good fit for “mom and pop stores,” Storrs says. “This is a critical part of the industry that has almost disappeared.” Ten years ago, the retail market had a relatively even mix of national, regional, and small local merchants, he says. “Today it’s more like 85 percent nationals, 13 percent regionals, and 2 percent mom and pops.” The liner buildings were built for $97 per square foot, and that includes the cost of all interior improvements for the commercial tenants. Mashpee Commons covers this expense for local merchants only. The gross rent of $40 per square foot is currently the highest rate in Mashpee Commons. Nevertheless, all the stores have been leased and have attracted a wide variety of tenants, including a barber shop, a mobile phone store, an art gallery, and an antiques store. National chains must conform Storrs’ emphasis on bringing in local merchants does not mean that national chain retailers are unwelcome, however. “[The national retailers] understand the benefit of being in Mashpee Commons and know that they will do better here,” Storrs says. “It’s a vindication of the fact that this is a better form of development.” Kitchenware retailer Williams Sonoma took over a newly renovated space in the old shopping center and exceeded its sales projections by over 100 percent in the first two months, Storrs says. He convinced the company to accept a store with two entrances, one facing the street and one opening to a pedestrian passage. The addition of a mezzanine level takes care of storage space. At the ends of the new street, the Gap will occupy a two-story, 25,000-square-foot store, and drug store chain CVS will move into a 10,000-square-foot building. However, a chain store like CVS cannot rely on its prototypical, suburban designs. The building must fit in with Mashpee Commons’ traditional New England architectural style. “This is an almost weekly knock-down, drag-out fight, and it takes unbelievable diligence,” Storrs says of the difficult process of getting the chains to adhere to the design guidelines. “But it is worth the battle, and we win in the end.” Mashpee Commons was originally conceived as the town center for several surrounding neighborhoods, but the permitting for the residential areas has progressed very slowly. Only 13 apartments above retail have been built so far. After filing a final environmental impact report at the end of 2000, Storrs expects to seek endorsement for a final development plan at a town meeting in October of 2001.