Consultants recommend downsizing NorthPark Mall, encouraging housing development (2024)

A new report by a city-hired consultant recommends demolishing an under-used portion of NorthPark Mall and encouraging new entertainment and housing developments.

As retail shifts away from traditional malls across the country, Davenport, working with Macerich, the largest land-owner at the mall, has sought out ways to prepare NorthPark Mall for potential redevelopment.

Leland Consulting Group, which the city hired for $100,000 in August 2023 to perform a market study and make recommendations for the city and Macerich, presented a high-level overview of recommendations to the Davenport City Council Tuesday afternoon.

The three core recommendations by the group were: to reduce the retail space in the mall to adjust to the market; make it a community destination with a sense of place that attracts people to it; and activate the area with new uses that complement the retail, such as events.

Among the recommendations were reducing the size of NorthPark Mall by about 300,000 square feet to stem the tide of retailers leaving. The report recommends the demolition of the former Sears and the corridor leading up to it. The proposed plan would leave Von Maur in place. Most recently, the former Sears housed a temporary Dick's Sporting Goods location while the company remodeled its Elmore Avenue store into a new House of Sports model. During the pandemic, it was a state COVID-19 testing site.

Once a mall reaches 25-30% vacant, retail tenants can negotiate more favorable rent or the right to terminate their leases and walk away because of decreased foot traffic, according to David Greensfelder, managing principal of Greensfelder Commercial Real Estate and one of the consultants on the project.

"NorthPark is close to this inflection point," Greensfelder said. "And the thing that's important to know is once the dominoes fall, it's almost impossible to set the dominoes back up again."

A smaller mall would mean a more favorable location for retailers to locate near one another, Greensfelder said. Plus, it opens up space for other, non-retail investments, such as housing or entertainment that create a sense of place and draw people in.

Reducing the size of the mall would also reduce the number of owners, which Greensfelder said would reduce barriers and complications to redevelopment.

The consultants' market analysis showed shoppers are migrating to the Elmore Avenue corridor when shopping for "commodity goods," Greensfelder said, which are goods that are the same no matter where they are bought.

Shoppers make decisions on where to buy commodity goods based on convenience and price, Greensfelder said, and right now, the Elmore corridor is more convenient.

Although the mall is slowly losing retail, the consultants emphasized the mall is not in such dire straits as other malls they've seen.

NorthPark Mall opened on July 11, 1973, with 700,000 square feet of space, making the shopping center the largest enclosed mall in Iowa at the time.

The original anchors were JCPenney, Younkers and Montgomery Ward, which closed in 2001 when the chain went out of business. It was replaced by Dillard's two years later. A multimillion-dollar expansion in 1981 brought Sears and Von Maur to the mall.

Sears and Younkers closedwithin months of each other in 2018, leaving behind thousands of square feet of empty retail space.

Currently, Von Maur, Dillard's and JCPenney remain. The mall is split up among owners, with Macerich being the largest owner.

According to the company's 2023 annual report, 82% of Macerich's 399,000 square feet is leased in Davenport, meaning about 18% is vacant. That does not include the anchor properties. The total mall space is close to a million square feet.

What could the mall be?

The consultants proposed high-level concepts for the NorthPark Mall that could include a mix of single and multi-family housing and public space to the north and a focus on retail and entertainment opportunities on the south side of the mall.

Zahas said there's population and employment growth in Davenport that shows the area could use about 350 housing units, which could be targeted toward a mix of the market— seniors, college students, early career individuals and small families.

Also, community events such as farmers markets, youth events and re-use of retail space into performing arts, sports or event facilities could activate the spaces where retail didn't stick around.

Zahas praised the city for activation already underway. Davenport Junior Theatre, a city and nonprofit-run theater program, is proposed to move temporarily into the former Younkers as its current home, the Annie Wittenmyer complex, is eyed for a housing development.

In other mall redevelopments, health care and higher education facilities are common suggestions, but Zahas said the market analysis showed those needs are already being met elsewhere in the community.

Other mall developments have put in place amenities that draw people to it, such as outdoor community spaces and access to nature, street furniture and amenities, signage and public art to evoke a sense of place.

Zahas gave an example of Lakeside Mall in Sterling Heights, Michigan, near Detroit. At that mall, there is a planned 90% reduction in the total amount of retail square footage that will be replaced with housing and other land uses. Zahas said that project is being funded by a private developer, the city, and the state. He emphasized it took a long time. Although the project is breaking ground this summer, it took 10 years of planning ahead of time.

Another example Zahas gave was Highland Mall in Texas, which was redeveloped with a community college as the new anchor instead of retail.

"That’s a recurring theme of thinking about activating the site with other things," Zahas said. "If the market doesn’t support retail, what does it support? And what are the uses that we can identify that will draw people in the community to use it as a community asset, If not, or in addition to perhaps more limited shopping.”

Zahas said it would be key for the city and property owners to develop a more detailed master plan.

Redevelopment needs public, private resources, consultants say

Patrick Alvord, one of the consultants, said it would be vital for all parties to pursue public-private partnerships to make redevelopment happen.

The key is to have an "open and trusting relationship between public and private parties."

Greenfelder emphasized that the private and public sectors needed to be willing to move forward together at the same time.

"One of the themes we heard was there's a lot of 'you go first. Should the city go first? Should the landowner go first?' This needs to be a joint venture," Greenfelder said. "...Everyone linking arms and moving forward together is one of the most important takeaways we can offer."

Davenport aldermen on Tuesday urged their colleagues not to shelve the report once it's finalized.

1st Ward Ald. Rick Dunn asked the consultants who should be driving the bus to make sure the plan is enacted. He referenced a Rockingham Road corridor study that stalled. The consultants said ideally, two people would be driving the bus, the mall owners and the city together.

7th Ward Ald. Mhisho Lynch requested that aldermen be heavily involved in the idea formation of what could go in at the mall as it could be one of the largest revitalization projects in decades.