NorthBay biz heads to San Rafael to witness the unveiling of Northgate mall’s massive renovation—from new stores and eateries to high-performance green building aspects, it’s a facelift of the highest magnitude.
Makeovers are quite the rage these days, from small and subtle facelifts to televised home makeovers. And they’re quite the challenge, especially in an economy where the primary difficulty is to be efficiently creative. It’s challenge enough when you’re working with 2,000 square feet; think of how difficult it must be when you have 725,000 square feet to renovate.
“We actually started thinking about it and drawing up plans in 2007,” says Ryan Williams, marketing manager for the
Northgate mall in San Rafael, which has undergone far more than a facelift over the last 18 months. The place was, for all intents, gutted and rebuilt from the inside. The reopening this month presents the idea of the “indoor” mall in a whole new light.
“Well, now that you mention it,
light is one of the key elements in the mix,” says Williams, the Salem, Oregon, native who did his college studies in business management at
San Diego State. “While we are the largest enclosed shopping center in all of Marin County, we wanted to create means of opening up the interiors to the outdoors, to bring in more fresh air and more light. It’s sort of what some have called ‘Marin Loft.’ We did that with large ‘nano walls’ that can slide completely open, and with clerestory windows that open automatically when the computers determine temperature and wind conditions are right—more air, more light.”
Another key element to the “feel” of the new Northgate mall has to do with making the place inviting to visitors who might just want to take an extended walk or sit down and read a book. “We did a lot of community interface,” notes Williams with pride. “We had focus groups with young and old alike. One of the things we discovered was that people of all ages wanted a place where they could just hang out and read, eat, sit, talk or walk. Hence the outdoor courtyard that brings several of our restaurants into play in an environment that encourages people to gather.
“We also worked with public transportation to incorporate our outdoor perimeter promenade with the walking and biking path that will be three miles in length when it’s completed. That runs along Las Gallinas and Los Ranchitos, and it’ll connect the mall and a local park with other important destinations in north San Rafael, including the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed
Marin Civic Center. We’ve done the first half mile, and it has black asphalt for the bicyclists and white asphalt for the walkers and runners. The idea was to incorporate all aspects in a safe environment.”
A welcome change
Given that Northgate was originally designed more than four decades ago (opening in 1965, purchased by Macerich in 1985, roofed in 1986), it’s no surprise that both customers and vendors were ready for a new look. At the time the plans were announced, Mayor Al Boro offered his full support to the new venture: “I’m pleased Macerich has included a number of our city policies and priorities in its plans for the mall at Northgate. It proposed to incorporate the first segment of the promenade, which includes improved pedestrian and bicycle accessibility into and around the site in its renovation plans. Inclusion of the promenade segment—as well as the neighborhood gathering places—are important elements reflected in the project.”
The renovations actually got underway in June 2008, with the aim of finishing the bulk of the work by November 2009. Back in 2008, Macerich—the Santa Monica-based outfit that owns Northgate (it owns nearly 80 million square feet of leaseable area in 72 regional malls nationally)— announced the first of the new stores that would revitalize the new Northgate. That was
Vans, the action sports footwear brand grounded (it says) in “youth, authenticity and individual style.” (The Macerich portfolio includes a handful of high-profile properties in Northern California, including
The Village at Corte Madera,
Broadway Plaza in Walnut Creek,
Arden Fair in Sacramento and
Carmel Plaza in Carmel-by-the-Sea on the Monterey Peninsula.)
Since then, there’s been a rat-a-tat-tat of announcements of new stores and restaurants. The full list would take up the rest of this article’s space (tempting, to be sure), but here’s a quick rundown of what shoppers can look forward to on the restaurant side. (Everyone gets hungry, right?) The latest list, released just a couple of months ago, includes BJ’s Brewhouse (handcrafted beers and ales), Chipotle Mexican Grill (gourmet burritos), Panera Bread (artisan breads, freshly baked), Tomatina (homemade pizza, pasta and salads), Shogun Fresh Japanese Grill, and Great Steak and Potato Co., among a few others.
“Prior to that,” says Williams, “we announced other new shops, including
H&M, the Swedish clothing company that’s known for catering to the quickly changing needs of women, men, teenagers and children interested in [affordable] high fashion and international trends.
Buckle is a leading retailer of medium-priced casual apparel, footwear and accessories that have special appeal to fashion-conscious teens. If you’re into surf, skate, motocross and the So-Cal lifestyle clothing, shoes and such, then
Tilly’s will be your cup of tea.
The Children’s Place is one of the growing list of retailers specializing in clothing and accessories for boys and girls in sizes zero to 14.
“Then there’s Shiekh Shoes, the Southern California outfit that boasts more than a million different styles—think about that—including brands like Puma, Lacoste, Converse and Michael Antonio. Sheikh Shoes has made a significant mark in the retail shoe business here in California and all across the West. For the athlete in your family, there’s Footlocker, which is highly recognized by youthful, multicultural youngsters who desire unique, branded athletic products to fit their lifestyles, both for fashion and for function. We have Sunglass Hut, Lenscrafters and GameStop, the world’s largest video game retailer; they have more than 6,000 stores in this country and in 17 others. GNC offers nutritional products, and Verizon Wireless has everything you need for your cell phone, PDA or Smartphone.”
Back to the restaurants. Food is a prime motivator, and the smells that are going to be emanating from the “new” mall are going to be extraordinary. “Northgate shoppers have asked for great dining options, and that’s what we’re delivering,” says Kim Choukalas, Macerich’s vice president for leasing. “BJ’s Brewhouse and Tomatina are going to become premier gathering spots for groups of friends and families alike, while Chipotle and Panera Bread will offer healthy, fast, casual dining for those on the go. We’re pleased that more and more restaurants are realizing this rare opportunity to locate in a mature and attractive market like Marin County.”
Choukalas notes that, by joining the Northgate family, Tomatina will now have six restaurants in Northern California, including Berkeley and Walnut Creek. “Since 1998, when chef
Michael Chiarello opened the original Tomatina in St. Helena,” says Chilton Dodson, Tomatina’s president, “we’ve been a place where family and friends can get together in a casual setting for great food, wine and fun. We’re proud to continue Michael’s vision in Marin and are excited to bring a fresh spin on pizza, pasta and
piadinas [Italian flatbread] to the new Northgate. As you may know, all doughs, dressings and sauces are made fresh, from scratch.”
Seeing green
One of Marin County’s best philosophical attributes also plays a big role in the renovation of the 41-year-old mall. “We know environmental stewardship is important to the local community, so we’ve employed sustainable building practices in our redevelopment of Northgate to target an accomplishment rare among shopping centers: LEED certification by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC),” says Chuck Davis, Macerich’s vice president for development. “We see the project, in the whole, as something of a recycling effort— and a fairly significant one, if you think about it. The aim was to recycle more than half of the existing center’s materials in our top-to-bottom transformation. We’ve been focusing our design on energy efficiency and sustainable practices. That makes good sense for the environment, for smarter energy use and for cost-effective operations, both now and over the long term. For Macerich as a whole, integrating sustainable and energy-efficient strategies is something we’re looking into throughout our company, nationwide.”
Davis points out that, while LEED environmental certification is making inroads across the country, it’s rarely seen in shopping centers. “It’s less frequent in shopping centers simply because retail centers are a blend of separate retailers that create highly individual buildouts of their stores, so they’ve often proven to be too diverse to ‘go green’ in one big, unified, environmentally friendly step. We’ve incorporated a number of eco-friendly and energy-saving techniques we expect to reduce overall energy use by quite a lot!”
Some of the green-building aspects of the new design include a mild-weather alternative ventilation system that brings in fresh air through clerestory windows (in the central roof area; they open and close by remote control), and roll-away entry doors and walls that take full advantage of the county’s temperate climate.
“We’re also using high-efficiency heating and cooling systems that are environmentally friendly,” says Davis. “We’ve put in high-efficiency lighting systems, but we’re also making good use of natural light by means of extensive skylights and other glass openings. We’ve gone to white roofing, which reduces the ‘heat island’ effect significantly—this is something you’re going to hear more and more about.”
Northgate has also installed a system that collects all water runoff from the 40 acres of buildings and parking lots and filters it prior to emptying it into San Rafael’s storm drain system (and, hence, into the San Francisco Bay). Macerich also worked hard to make maximum reuse of wood from the original mall structures, recycling it into decorative architectural work, benches and framing for concrete work.
“Outdoors, we’ve gone to California drought landscaping by using plants that will need little or no water after they’ve established themselves, in about five years,” says Davis. “We’ve aimed at recycling up to three-fourths of our nonhazardous construction and demolition debris waste and went out of our way to select low-VOC materials for construction— including paints, sealants, adhesives, carpets and wood products.”
Looking good
Davis sees all of this as a big plus for the community. “Look, this is a sophisticated community, and it deserves a modern shopping experience to match the extraordinary Marin County lifestyle. Retail demand for this market is strong, and we envision a number of new-to-market and flagship stores, alongside our flagship department stores—Macy’s, Kohl’s [which has taken over the Mervyn’s slot], Sears and Century Theaters. We operate the largest enclosed regional mall in the county, and we believe our new indoor-outdoor food court, our European-styled marketplace for specialty retailers and our abundant sidewalk cafés will incorporate the best of outdoor lifestyle centers via an outward-facing mall. The overall size of the renovated center will be 725,000 square feet of leaseable area— much the same footprint as our former design.”
“Our new logo, with its clean lines and modern look, matches the physical transformation that our whole property is undergoing,” adds Williams. “We’re so appreciative of our longtime shoppers and for the community’s widespread support for how we’re reshaping our shopping center.” And it really is shaping up, before our very eyes.
A few years ago, when Boston was in the middle of its “Big Dig,” to underground most utilities, it had a clever ad campaign at work: “Something new on the Boston skyline: Sky!” As I walked through the Northgate mall a couple months ago, while temporary walls still hid much of the renovation, I could feel the new airiness and vitality that was being built into this most ambitious of makeovers. There was an exhibit of Italian street painting on display on one of those walls (
youthinarts.org), and the clerestory windows do, indeed, open the place up to the sky and to the air. Now that the competing smells of the new restaurants are going to be added to the mix, well, the sky is, in reality, the limit.
Public Appreciation
Ryan Williams says the focus groups really helped. He was particularly impressed that one of the members took the time to write the following:
“Since your presentation, I’ve come away with an appreciation for Macerich and truly believe you’re focused in serving our community. I see it in the events you organize as well as in the most recent announcement of new stores and restaurants. I’m not sure how much our little focus group inspired these decisions, but nevertheless, it makes me feel like we played our part by voicing our opinions about what we’d like to see in our new shopping center. Needless to say, we’re all very ecstatic about the new lineup, and I thank you on behalf of everyone for giving us the opportunity to meet with you.”
