While Cross Pointe has been able to attract new businesses after losing two of its anchor stores in the past five years — Sears and The Stitching Post — Town & Country has managed to keep its core intact.
“We didn’t lose any of our big major tenants, and we have renewed all of them,” said Pamela Cochran, property manager at the Kettering center. “And a lot of our tenants (Nora’s Salon, Senses and Roderer Shoe Center) have expanded.”
Growth
The Kettering shopping center at 300 E. Stroop Road is operating at 76 percent occupancy, based on square footage. That figure is lower than the regional average of 81 percent.
The 250,000-square-foot center has about 50 tenants and 11 open store fronts, not counting the center atrium or front kiosks.
“We emptied those when we thought we were going to open those up,” Cochran said, alluding a 2007 plan to convert to an open-air mall in response to a prospective tenant. “For right now, though, we’re staying enclosed.”
Cross Pointe, at 101 E. Alex-Bell Road, is at more than 90 percent occupancy.
“We were able to fill roughly 30 percent of the center in the last year,” said Scott Wright, real estate agent with Cross Pointe owner Don Wright Realty.
Cross Pointe, which is 217,000 square feet, lost its Sears store in 2006 and The Stitching Post in June, but those anchor spots have been filled by part of Fortis College and Earth Fare, respectively.
Fortis moved in last year, and Earth Fare is scheduled to open in late summer.
Location
The retail offerings at the corner of Ohio 48 and East Alex-Bell Road have three owners.
Don Wright Realty has owned the 25-year-old Cross Pointe portion, as recognized by Gem Real Estate Group, since 2003.
Kimco owns the six properties directly east of Fortis, and Gene Young owns the plot that contains Doubleday’s Grill and Tavern, as well as the free-standing LaRosa’s and Wright-Patt Credit Union.
Town & Country is owned by the same Columbus companies, Skilkin and Casto, that built the center in 1948. It does not include Marion’s Piazza, PNC Bank, L’Auberge and BP.
Both sites credit their locations for their continued sustainability.
“Being in Kettering and being close to Oakwood, Centerville and Washington Twp. is an ideal location for our center,” said Ken Gold, president of Skilkin.
Wright added that Cross Pointe draws from the same regions and benefits from being on I-675.
Tenants
Kelly Gray, vice president of leasing for Equity Retail Advisors, said Cross Pointe is a little easier to get into and out of, and is priced better than Town & Country.
According to Gem’s 2010 Greater Dayton Regional Market Study, Cross Pointe charges tenants $14 per square foot, plus $4.50 for Common Area Maintenance fees, which often include tax and insurance. The study reports that Town & Country charges between $12.50 and $25 per square foot, and $5 for CAM.
Cochran said the center’s rates vary depending on size and condition of the space, the use and the user. She added that the center has used some of its open kiosk space to give back to the community.
“We help sponsor the Blue Star Mothers,” she said. “They use the free space to collect money for their soldiers.”
Cochran said the center’s restaurants — Panera, First Watch and Buffalo Wild Wings — draw the most traffic, and that anchor Stein Mart, Roderer and Trader Joe’s dominate in retail.
Wright listed Outback, Culinary Company, Bellagio and Marshall’s, an anchor store, as drawing the most traffic to Crosse Pointe.
“We’ve also been able to draw a lot of mom-and-pop stores,” he said.
Competition
When asked about what they see as their greatest competition, Wright said “the Dayton Mall and Dorothy Lane Center (at Ohio 48 and Whipp Road), as well as The Greene and Town & Country.”
Cochran said she doesn’t consider anybody competition, but acknowledged that The Greene’s initial impact has diminished.
“Anytime a new shopping center opens, people rush out there,” Cochran said. “But then everybody falls back into their old habits.”
The Greene, which is 3½ miles from Town & Country and 4½ miles from Cross Pointe, opened in August 2006 at Indian Ripple Road and I-675 in Beavercreek.
The Greene, listed at 700,000 square feet in the 2010 Gem study, drew the Showcase Cinemas movie theater away from the Cross Pointe area and absorbed a chunk of Books & Co. from Town & Country when it first arrived.
But, based on continued viability, there seems to be room for all three in this market.
Future
Wright said Earth Fare should draw more daytime traffic to Cross Pointe, to complement the higher evening traffic generated by the restaurants.
He said the center’s signage may be renovated, and that the center is trying to get approval from the Ohio Department of Transportation to remove the fence at the corner.
Cochran said coming out of the recession is a slow process, “but our Christmas sales were very good, and we are very encouraged.”
Wright, whose company handles a variety of real estate sales and leasings, agreed.
“Commercial real estate has been flat, and the residential rebound has been slow with dropping values, but retail is leading the pack,” he said. “But you have to provide something that (the competition) doesn’t.”
Contact this reporter at jikelley@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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