ANDERS December 31, 2021 (1:42 am)
Some background and history on the development of Westwood Village and University Village:Westwood Village Shopping Center opened in 1965, under Skinner Corp. ownership and patterned after (1960s) University Village and Aurora Village.(Historylink.org)
Wesbild Holdings Group (Vancouver, BC)acquired Westwood Village in 1990 and subsequently redeveloped the center which after 35 years, had fallen into severe decline and disrepair.
University Village in 1990 was a relic of the 1960s 1970s and was also experiencing decline. In 1993, Stuart Sloan (then chairman of QFC)along with a developer partner bought it. They set out to redevelop with a vision for a shopping ‘experience’ that included interconnected outdoor corridors with a wide array of high-quality shopping and eating choices in an aesthetically beautiful, tree-lined village feeling that insulated shoppers and screened out ugly views of large parking lots. They largely succeeded in creating their vision by successfully integrating locally-owned boutiques, eateries, and signature national retailers. U Village is supported by a large, upscale area demographic with corresponding upscale tenants. “U Village has become synonymous with upscale and pedestrian-friendly,” said Susan Zimmerman, a retail broker for Kidder Mathews & Segner.That comes from wide walkways, open-air seating, courtyards, coordinated colors and neo-classical building design. It attract young and mature patrons which provides an experience vastly superior to the traditional mallor strip mall.
To illustrate one of the differences between the to shopping centers; corporations often rate their stores A thru D as per how they are stocked and marketed.U-Village has “A” rated stores while Westwood has“B”-“C” rated stores. (Not rated by corporate on store quality per se, but in large part based on area income levels within X miles of the store– which then affects the quality and price point of merchandise).
Westwood Village had enough land and retail sq footage to create another University Village.However, by 2000 it was clear that unlike Sloan, Wesbild had no such vision. While They were able to build a much-improved WV anchor tenant roster by 2010 including Pier 1, Barnes & Noble, Starbuck’s, Chico’s, Bed Bath & Beyond, QFC, Wyatt’s Jewelers, Big 5, Staples, Rite-Aid, Target etc., WV was also known for high rent as well as requirements /restrictions on tenants that were so numerous that only deep-pocket chain stores could meet them. This eliminated the desirable counterpart of small biz at WV.Parking was given priority over shopping experience, and while parking isn’t always easy at U-Village; apparently the ambiance is well worth the trade-off.At Westwood Village, the shopper “experience” consists of crossing long stretches of car-studded asphalt between what essentially is a series of disconnected strip-malls surrounded by vast, treeless, shadeless parking lots, 2 banks and a McDonald’s – all of which offer zero aesthetic value.
In the Spring of 2011, Wesbild sold Westwood Village to a company in Delaware: Multi-Employer Property Trust (MEPT).In contrast to U Village, when WV was sold to MEPT, it was described in the listing as “(serving) the daily and necessity shopping needs of value-conscious consumers”( i.e. not Range Rover-driving, Coach-toting consumers with loads of disposable income).The decisions Wesbild made combined with the sale to east-coast based MEPT appears to have contributed to the beginning of a second slow decline for the shopper of which we are nowexperiencing. Gone are Barnes & Noble, Pier 1, The Eateryand now Bed Bath & Beyond – all of which can draw audiencesdistinct from GameStop, Target or Marshall’s. No judgement – just different and variety is good for shopping. Speaking of rent, the bankruptcy docs for 24 Hour Fitness show the monthly rent at $49,900 (!) in 2020.
Westwood Village can learn a lot from University Village – but it’s also a different animal entirely and needs to innovate accordingly in order to grow up and thrive. And yes, it takes both vision and big $$$ to reinvent.
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