Stratford Hills Shopping Center & Stony Point Fashion Park on Loan Watch List
I can’t remember the last time I bought anything up at Stony Point beyond a meal at Chammps on Kids Eat Free night. Apparently I am not the only one.From RTD:
Real Capital Analytics, a New York-based commercial real estate research firm, is tracking 25 properties in distress in the Richmond area with an outstanding debt balance of $371 million.
These aren’t the only properties facing possible trouble.
A total of 66 properties here — including two local malls, Stony Point Fashion Park and Regency Square — are on a watch list compiled by Trepp, a New York-based information provider in the commercial mortgage finance industry. A year ago, 46 properties were on the list.
and
Other properties on Trepp’s Richmond-area watch list include The Shops at Stratford Hills, Rivers Bend Medical Office, Crescent Business Center, Manakin Trade Center and the Shockoe Centre office building.
In other unrelated news it is snowing.
Shops at Stratford Hills made the list as well.
Good eye Jonathan. I have changed the post to reflect the one I missed. I do spend a good amount of money at Sratford Hills between: Once Upon a Vine, Benny’s, Paradise, and occasional visits to Positive Vibe and Thais Momma (which is now something else).
I thought stratford hills was the Ukrops/Target shopping center?
Yes, Shops at Stratford Hills is the new one, and with all of those empty storefronts I can’t say I am surprised.
Formerly tenanted spots: Moe’s, five below, coldstone creamery, the “doc in a box” whose name I forget. I imagine the rental fees in that center must be high. And then you start counting the vacancies right around it like the child care and planet wings across the street and you have a lot of available spaces with few businesses expanding or starting up at the moment.
It’s very sad to see, given that the Shops at Stratford Hills is so new. But then again every time I’ve visited Target the store has been virtually empty, and if an anchor doesn’t seem to meet expectations the other vacancies come as no surprise.
Flashback to the Great Big Greenhouse doing land-office business at the same location….*sigh*
How can we compete with the utter evil, that is, Short Pump….
I hate the soulless West End.
I love Stony Point and shop there all the time. I truly do not understand why it’s not more popular. Same with Stratford Hills – the Target there is really nice. However, the Moe’s that’s now gone had a serious slacker problem. I stopped eating there because the service was so bizarrely slow.
I found the Moe’s to be a pale imitiation of Chipotle (which, btw, is what brings me to Stony Point fairly regularly).
Jacob, if more people would pledge to shop closer to home, the shopping areas near us wouldn’t be in danger. There are plenty of far-Western Henrico residents to keep Short Pump booming without my dollars. I have been there exactly once, for a fundraising dinner at Magianno’s, and I couldn’t beat a retreat fast enough. Keep your money in the city and keep the city alive!
Anne, I agree with you. When I am shopping, I look first in the neighborhood, then other stores in the city, then look further. The local Target would send out a search party if I didn’t show up at least once a week. :)
I’ve been to Short Pump Town Center exactly twice. The first time I went to see an actual Pottery Barn. Nearly got wiped out in the parking lot by a crazy Westender (I assume) on her cell phone. The second time it was a business dinner.
I’m there with you guys….I go to Short Pump once or twice a year maybe for a movie, and it reminds me of when I lived in fairfax as a kid. Too much money, and not enough brains.
My wife and I do the vast majority of shopping this side of town, albeit, I don’t feel bad about skipping Wally World for the most part. I work in American manufacturing so I refuse to support them but so often.
Regarding the Moe’s, it was definitely subpar to the Moe’s near the UofR and Ukrops at Three Chopt and Patterson. It all comes down to the people.
Sorry This is so long!
I rarely go to Stony Point, but it is not due to my willingness to keep my money in the City! First my dollar does not stretch far enough, in this tight economy, for me to afford to shop at many of the stores! Also, at a few of the stores my wife and I, as African Americans, have not received the same type of service as others in the store. I remeber one time the girl in the store said welcome to everyone who walk in except for me, but proceeded to watch my every move.In addition, there is the issue of Location, Location, Location. Stony Point is a 5 – 15 min drive from 3 other malls. Malls survive when they have a monopoly on population, and stony Point lacks that.
I think the City needs to rethink the way we do retail. We need to embrace our urban landscape, and stop trying to imitate the counties. I lived in Northern Virginia, and admire the way Arlington and Alexandria have embrace the urban ladscape. I love the Shopping districts of Charlottesville, and Chalerston, SC and really think that our city leaders and major developers should take some serious notes.
As for Stratford Hills, I think at it will see better days if the 60 arces behind it are developed in the right way, with the right type of housing. I also believe in mixed use property and wished that Stratford hills was set up with retail and residential. I think that it would be in better shape.
Andrew, thanks for your thoughts. I think you are right both about Stony Point and Stratford Hills in terms of surroundings/location.
I didn’t mention, but I will now, that I don’t buy a whole lot *besides* Chipotle at Stony Point simply because I can’t afford to. When one of my books is made into a blockbuster movie and I am raking in the residuals, I’ll happily drop lots of cash at Anthropologie, Restoration Hardware and the rest of the stores out there that don’t sell burritos. Until then, the Forest Hill Target will continue to be my home away from home.
Agree with all that is said and I totally forgot about Chipolte despite going every month or so. One reason we make the trek to the west end is to go to the Apple Store. That and a strange obsession with World Market, although we rarely buy anything at World Market.
I don’t know, I think Stony Point has more going for it than burritos. Gap, Banana Republic, Dick’s, and Dillard’s are all relatively inexpensive and all have good sales. Panera Bread is also not a bad lunch option and Brio has a GREAT lunch menu if you want something a little nicer.
Mostly I love Stony Point because it’s got a nice atmosphere. It’s not too big, it’s attractive, and I really like that it’s an outdoor mall. I mean really, have you been to Regency or Chesterfield Towne Center lately? Yikes.
Let me split a smnall hair here (orhare, if you are into rabbits). The original story said the loan was in trouble…the loan that Taubman used to fiannce the project. While the profitability of the individual stores is part of the picture, pther things enter into it. What was the cost of the loan originally to Taubman? Are they meeting their tax obligations? What is their overhead? They might be having a perfectly success shopping center, and still be under water.
Actually, Amblus, Tad does a fair amount of shopping at Dick’s, and I have gotten work clothes at Dillard’s. And Children’s Place has some good sales.
However, if my good deeds and sterling qualities are not enough to spare me from the flaming depths of hades, I will spend eternity in an infernal Panera Bread, holding a tray with an overpriced sandwich on it while I wait for a table to open up — but that will never happen because every seat is taken by someone long since done eating but hogging the free wifi. HELL, I TELL YOU.
Anne, perfect-pitch rant. Please add the hell that is standing in a pack of people who are squinting to read the menu while bored cashiers are waiting with a single eye-brow raised for the cattle to order.
Fair enough, but that’s not a Stony Point issue, that’s a sub-par chain restaurant issue.
YES. And asking the cashier to describe each sandwich in detail. And then ordering something that is not even on the menu.
Another reason I will always like Stony Point is because it is where I saw death take an ass-whipping:
http://tupelo.livejournal.com/296775.html
(This was before my Richmond Magazine days so I had to livejournal about it. It was too good not to record.)
Retailer/tenants usually pay rent plus a percentage of their sales, so if a space goes empty or a store’s sales drop or don’t meet expectations, then that can spell trouble for everyone. The developer’s solvency is also a consideration, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if they are ‘underwater’.
Andrew makes a great point about the suburban-style development in Richmond: mixed-use development would have made more sense in both Stratford Hills and Stony Point.
The 60+ acres behind Stratford may be a challenge in that there is a rail line running through, making it difficult to access.
I’m not a fan of either shopping area anyway so I mostly avoid both destinations.
Stony Point is a mixed use development. It includes the Apartment complexes to the South, the single family behind that, the office buildings across Chippenham, and Virginia Urology Center and the Stony Point medical center. In addition there are still some outparcels marked for office/commercial to the west.