Westfarms refreshes look with multi-million dollar makeover

Photo | Steve Laschever Longtime Westfarms General Manager Kevin Keenan is overseeing the malls multi-million dollar facelift, which aims to give one of the region's largest shopping centers a fresh look.

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By Alexander Soule

Sometime in May, kids will converge on Westfarms Mall in West Hartford as the Lego Store opens its newest location there, perhaps to include demos from master brick builders.

Behind the scenes, Westfarms construction crews will be hard at work on their own building project — a multi-million dollar facelift to the 40-year-old facility.

Undergoing its first significant renovations in years, Westfarms is tinkering with its look, and retailer lineup, in an effort to woo new patrons and maintain its current customer base at a time when competition from online retailers and lifestyle shopping centers is putting pressure on traditional malls nationwide.

Shoppers strolling through Westfarms have undoubtedly noticed construction that is raising the sunken center court and removing escalators and a ring of marble planters to allow clearer walkways and sight paths throughout the area. The mall is also installing new glass elevators, and making changes to entrances, landscaping, lighting, flooring, seating areas, and restrooms to accommodate a more upscale look and feel.

“The company is constantly reinvesting in [the mall] to keep it fresh and relevant,” said Westfarms General Manager Kevin Keenan. “It doesn't look or feel like a 40-year-old shopping center when you walk through it.”

Keenan said the goal of the renovations is to refresh the mall's look and allow customers to walk through it more effortlessly, creating a comfortable and appealing environment for shoppers and retailers alike.

Westfarms is also investing in technology, like free Wi-Fi, to make the consumer's shopping experience more efficient and enjoyable, Keenan said.

“The renovations will include a number of tech tables where our customers can recharge their mobile devices while relaxing,” Keenan said.

In an effort to draw new customers, many U.S. malls are expanding the experiential side of their business, adding concerts, movie theaters, indoor golf and even amusement parks to move beyond traditional shopping center offerings.

Keenan said such major additions aren't in Westfarms' plans because he doesn't view the mall as a major tourist destination.

“What we try to do is bring in the best retailers to the market and try to make the experience comfortable and enjoyable; a great place to eat, nice music, nice surroundings, great retailers,” Keenan said. “Myself personally, the one thing I don't have enough of, besides money, is time. And so we try to make it as convenient as possible for the customer to get in and out of the shopping center as quickly and as easily as they can, and I think that will continue to be true for us.

“You really need to look at how you maximize the value of literally every square foot in the mall,” he added.

Keenan said Westfarms' main focus is attracting the right mix of retailers and restaurants and offering small touches like valet parking during the holidays. The mall is also in a constant state of evolution thanks to tenant turnover, which gives consumers a reason to return to try new options, he said.

While Westfarms has seen some departures in the past 18 months, most notably the Rainforest Café and Restoration Hardware, it has offset those losses with new tenants like the Microsoft Store and Athleta, as well as an expanded Forever 21 store.

More importantly, Westfarms' anchor tenants — Nordstrom, Macy's, Lord & Taylor and J.C. Penney — remain unchanged since the aftermath of the Great Recession.

Excluding seasonal stores and kiosks, Westfarms has an occupancy rate “typically in the mid-90 percent range,” Keenan said.

Mall rebound

After a sluggish stretch following the recession, U.S. malls are beginning to show signs of life, with new developments being considered in several states, including Connecticut.

The No. 2 operator nationally, General Growth Properties, for example, is floating a new mall for Norwalk as early as 2017. In East Rutherford, N.J., developers hope to create the largest mall in the world, complete with an amusement park and indoor ski slope. And in Minnesota, the iconic Mall of America is embarking on a $325 million expansion in an effort to build on its estimated 42 million annual visitors.

Regional malls nationally had a vacancy rate of 7.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013, according to Ryan Severino, senior economist for Reis, a New York City real estate data firm.

Westfarms is owned by Michigan mall retail giant Taubman Centers, which has been investing significantly in recent years to expand or renovate over half of its 26 U.S. properties.

Taubman's Stamford Town Center, for example, underwent a $64 million renovation in 2007.

Westfarms ranks among the largest shopping centers in the state with 1.3 million square feet of gross leasable area. Its nearest competitor is Manchester's The Shoppes at Buckland Hills, which has 1 million square feet of gross leasable space and about 150 tenants.

Shopping and lifestyle centers, like West Hartford's Blue Back Square, are also competitors, along with online retailers.

One advantage Westfarms enjoys is its location next to high net worth shoppers in Farmington, West Hartford, Avon and Simsbury. The four towns have median household incomes well above those in Hartford County and Connecticut, ranging between $81,000 and $112,000, according to 2012 U.S. Census Bureau data.

The best enclosed malls are considered rocks of the retail real estate sector and many mall operators are seeing it as an opportune time to invest in their properties, said Brad Hutensky, principal and president of the Hartford retail real estate investment fund Hutensky Capital Partners.

“Westfarms is one of the better malls in the country,” said Hutensky, who is also a recent chair of the International Council of Shopping Centers. “What we're seeing is that owners of those kinds of malls believe it makes more sense to reinvest in a very good mall — renovate, expand if they can — rather than trying to build a new mall.”

Westfarms now adds the Lego Store, with the iconic toy maker coming off the publicity boost of The Lego Movie released in February. For a few days in May, Westfarms will get to bask in the Lego limelight.

“Some great … retailers are looking to get into the [Hartford-area] market,” Keenan said. “They at least give us a look, and fortunately more often than not end up settling at Westfarms as opposed to one of the others, whether it be lifestyle centers or shopping malls in the market … We are attracting the right retailers, and at the end of the day that's what it's all about.”