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Frustrations Boil Over in New TownWednesday, February 02, 2011 Opus 9 owner Steve Lewis’s symbolic protest Monday was more than just a response to the expansion of the business beside him. It was a culmination of years of feeling underserved by the owners of his part of New Town. Monday morning, Lewis parked his car in an attempt to block construction crews demolishing the parking lot behind his building (read yesterday’s story here). The construction will add a 15,000-square-foot expansion to the building that will soon house American Family Fitness gym.Though he was irritated with the disruption to his business and the developer’s silence about the plan, Lewis’ frustration stemmed from years of his feeling that Developers Realty (owners of the Shops on Main Street and a few other buildings) hasn’t supported him or the original vision of Main Street. Other business owners are equally frustrated. Representatives for the owner and for the New Town Commercial Association, which represents all the businesses in New Town, argue that Main Street follows the overall plan for all for New Town, which is to have a variety of shops and businesses. Lewis said when Developers Realty didn’t return his calls about the gym expansion, he wasn’t surprised. He has had a leaky roof that hasn’t been adequately addressed by the owner after repeated requests. Also, in the midst of the recession Lewis reached out to the company for help with his rent, and the response from Developers Realty was that other businesses weren’t having financial problems and that they wouldn’t agree to negotiate his payments. “We survived, despite their unwillingness to help us,” Lewis says. “It’s clear how Developers Realty feels about their tenants. Our reputation for running the restaurant is a good one.” Other owners of now-closed Main Street businesses shared similar stories with WYDaily. Former Cheeburger Cheeburger owner Steve Touchstone said in a January 2010 interview that he had also asked for help with his rent, and received the same response. He said at different points during his ownership, the leasing company would tell him all the other restaurants were doing well and any problems he experienced were unique to his business. Maggie Moos owner Young Choi was forced to close her business last November after she had also found no help from the owners of Main Street when she asked for a rent adjustment. To add insult to injury, business owners found out last spring that American Family Fitness got a deal on their rent to tempt them into the space. Gym CEO Brian Evans told Richmond Biz Sense in late March that he’d long considered moving to New Town, but didn’t agree until his rent was dropped to about half what existing tenants pay. Other New Town business owners see the gym as indicative of a different problem with the Main About the various entities in the story
Main Street shops and a few other buildings in New Town are owned by Developers Realty based in Connecticut. They own Williamsburg Developers, LLC. New Town Associates are the original developers of most of the property in all of New Town. New Town Commercial Association functions somewhat like a residential homeowners association, but for businesses. The NTCA is controlled by a board majority led by New Town Associates. This is how Salzman is affiliated with both entities. New Town was designed to be a “new urbanism” development, a mixed-use area with businesses and residential units that promote the idea of a compact, walkable community. Grafton said New Town Associates explained to him when he first bought his business that the community would be “centered around an upscale retail development anchored by a movie theater and comprised mostly of national retailers, the Shops of Main Street at New Town.” Letting a large gym open Main Street doesn’t jibe with the vision, he believes. “I am disappointed in Developers Realty Corporation’s decision to lease space in the Shops of Main Street at New Town to a fitness center. Their decision to do so will not only impact my business, it stands to jeopardize the tenant mix along Main Street and the overall integrity of New Town. “I question whether or not this business is compatible with the other tenants along Main Street and with New Town’s overall master plan.” Lewis agrees that the gym doesn’t fit with the vision for New Town as he understood it. Had he known about the gym and its large expansion coming to Main Street, he never would have leased the space, Lewis says. John Stein, owner of Harbour Coffee, feels the same. Main Street was supposed to have high-end, national-brand stores and restaurants, he told WYDaily in November, which would help support the other various businesses off Main Street, like his own. “We bought into that idea, that concept, and American Family Fitness doesn’t fit.” Stein also understands Main Street owners’ feelings when it comes to rent payments. “They feel, ‘no one came to my rescue, why does [the gym] get favors?’ If it’s true that the owner won’t negotiate rents, then that’s a problem… the vibrancy of Main Street is important.” Larry Salzman, managing director for New Town Associates and president of the New Town Commercial Association, told WYDaily in November that the NTCA board supports American Family Fitness and that the vision for Main Street is adaptable. “Real estate evolves over time, and New Town is evolving and should evolve over time,” Salzman said. The gym is a permitted use in the development, he said, and fits with the original intent of New Town as its own little town, with many restaurants, banks, offices and other businesses. Leasing agent for Main Street shops Nathan Shor agrees, saying that Main Street “is no different than the rest of the ‘new urbanism’ property,” and is meant to have multiple owners and types of businesses. “It’s prohibitive to exclude certain businesses due to other businesses,” he says of the gym. American Family Fitness will be an asset to Main Street shops, Shor says, and the community as a whole, and the construction of the addition “is within our rights.” Shor declined in a previous interview to discuss rents, as they’re private information, he said. Ron Hess, who teaches at William and Mary’s Mason School of Business, said in an interview in November that “often times, bigger companies have the power to mandate lower rates per square foot” when negotiating leases. Property owners often look to get bigger name clients who can help the whole shopping center by drawing business, he said. As for competition, Hess pointed out that American Family Fitness could have opened up anywhere else in Williamsburg, “and it would still be a competitor for consumers.” In the end, in Stein’s estimation, “it comes down to trust.” Business owners don’t feel like partners in the development’s business community at the moment, he thinks. “We want to be happy and speak life into New Town. Market demand drives business, okay. But internal competition driving down business is not okay.”
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Comments
That's horrible to do. Cancel a reservation because of construction that the restaurant has no control over? Horrible customer.
New Town needs to start encouraging independent businesses to open. They need to stop being greedy and lower rents to give a chance to businesses that will create jobs and make Williamsburg a unique place. No one wants National Chains and standard restaurants; we want local, good customer service and to see people in our community thrive with their own business ideas. I always say that Williamsburg needs to become a little like Charlottesville -- full of quirky restaurants shops, events, and a good, supporting community that is there to help each other.
NewTown is in Williamsburg, VA at the 'corner' so to speak of Ironbound Rd and Monticello..... ...but extends all the way back toward RT199 and Discovery Park Blvd.
When you visit be sure to see the 'other' New Town that is NOT on the main street. Its here you will find the independent shops that never get advertising dollars spent on them....but shoulder it themselves somehow trying to get business to come their way too.
Uhh,,,,did you even READ the context of this ? Its about New Town, not main street, cannibilizing its own. NTA, Twiddy et al, all sold the community idea to this place.....and it then writes leases according to 'market' rules and 'permitable uses'. These people should be ashamed because you have great folks, independent folks opening with a promise and a handshake and then are being sold AGAINST by their 'friends'. There is nothing market based about this decision....its 100% profit and thats fine BUT its not fine when at the very same time New Town is sold to its indies as a community. ITS A SHAM.
It was so much nicer before greed and construction ruined a perfectly good green field.