Phoenix Biltmore Fashion Park making changes, lining up tenants
Jul 10, 2018, 6:44 AM | Updated: 4:02 pm
Biltmore Fashion Park rendering (Facebook Photo)
(Facebook Photo)
PHOENIX — Biltmore Fashion Park’s transition from shopping mall to lifestyle center will feature new tenants and upgrades over the next three years.
According to the Phoenix Business Journal, Macerich Co., a California-based real estate investment trust, plans to make changes to the aging mall, which opened in 1963.
The first round of changes will come in the form of new businesses and retailers, most of them replacing shops that have already closed their doors.
“When we see store closures, it isn’t indicative to how a certain center is doing,” Kim Choukalas, vice president of leasing for Macerich, told the Journal.
According to the Journal, Biltmore Fashion Park was Macerich’s top performing mall in Arizona last year, beating out other properties the trust owns such as Scottsdale Fashion Square and Kierland Commons.
Choukalas said Macerich’s leasing team takes the business and trends in the area into account when deciding which tenants were best suited for the mall.
That was the approach they took to find new businesses for the Biltmore.
“We want to give our shopping centers the opportunity to be more things to more people,” Choukalas told the Journal.
Leases for more of the tenants have not officially been signed, but two businesses are already known to the public.
According to the Journal, Williams-Sonoma — a popular retailer specializing in kitchenware — planned to open an expanded store at the mall that will include an area for cooking classes.
Additionally, Life Time Fitness was planning to open a location at the site.
More tenants will be announced in the next two or three years.
