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Owner of New Town's Main Street Shares New PerspectiveMonday, February 07, 2011 Following two articles on New Town’s Main Street shops, President of Developers Realty Joseph Baranowski talked with WYDaily to share his thoughts on the issues facing the development. In the stories, some New Town business owners expressed various concerns over a new gym, American Family Fitness, which will be moving in once its expansion is complete, and how it affects the original plan for Main Street as they understood it. Other owners criticized Main Street shops owner Developers Realty because the company wouldn’t lower rents for some businesses, while the new gym owner got a better rate.During research on the story, WYDaily contacted a representative of Developers Realty by email and by phone to talk about Main Street but got no response, and also tried unsuccessfully to find a local contact for Williamsburg Developers, LLC, the company incorporated in Virginia listed as the owner of the Main Street properties (Developers Realty is listed as the main office, and the local phone number associated with the company was not a working number). WYDaily contacted Nathan Shor, who negotiates on behalf of the owner to lease Main Street shops, who offered his responses to the concerns that were raised. Larry Salzman, who heads the group that represents all New Town business owners (including Developers Realty) also shared his thoughts on Main Street and the new gym. When the two-part series was published, the president of Developers Realty - Baranowski - contacted WYDaily to give his perspective on business owners’ concerns. Main Street series
Read the first story about Opus Nine owner Steve Lewis' concerns and the new gym expansion. Read the second story about business owners' other concerns and the responses to them. According to Baranowski, “On Main Street, the properties were designed for people to spend a large portion of the day there.” The movie theater was intended to be the “main draw” for Main Street with the expectation that people would come for the movie and stay and walk to restaurants and other businesses. “While Main Street has the main draw of the theater on one side… it needed another major draw on the other side of the street,” he says. “We tried to do this with the expansion of the [gym] building to help get activity on that end.” Though people aren’t necessarily going to shop or dine directly after working out, the 2,000 gym patrons expected each week “will pay attention to [the other] businesses, be aware of what’s out there, and come back,” Baranowski believes. It will make coming to New Town a part of people’s routine. Some business owners told WYDaily they were concerned that American Family Fitness didn’t fit with the original vision of Main Street as they had understood it, which was a street with high-end retail shops and restaurants. Baranowski says that in recent years “a lot of developers have started to change their Main Street setting” to include “big box [businesses] that draw people” to a specific area, as he expects American Family Fitness will. Other Main Street business owners told WYDaily that Developers Realty wasn’t willing to negotiate on their rents when they needed help. Baranowski says in the case of Cheeburger Cheeburger (which had been located next to the movie theater and closed a year ago), the restaurant had been “the highest grossing tenant per square foot in the whole center. “What we do is analyze how each business is doing based on a formula. If you are the highest grossing [business], you don’t need rent reduction,” he says. Maggie Moos (which had been located near to the movie theater opposite Cheeburger Cheeburger and closed in November) was also a business that had high gross revenue per square foot, Baranowski says. “These folks didn’t need [rent] help.” When businesses are having problems with lower sales, they should be spending money in advertising or should be having sales to attract customers. As a landlord, it can be frustrating when that doesn’t happen, Baranowski says. When American Family Fitness owner Brian Evans told Richmond Biz Sense he got a reduced rent, some New Town business owners called it unfair. Baranowski points out that “so much goes into the deal structure… American Family Fitness is putting a tremendous amount of money into working on the building, more than we are,” which was taken into account when negotiating the deal. When his company does more work and takes on more cost with a store it can affect the rent in the other direction. As for complaints about parking in general, Baranowski feels there hasn’t been a problem around Main Street, even when businesses are packed. Buffalo Wild Wings is often very busy, and even on nights when the nearby movie theater also has lots of traffic he hasn’t heard a complaint about parking. It goes back to the intent for the shopping center, he says: to have people park their cars in one location and walk to various shops and businesses from there. On the topic of Opus 9 owner Steve Lewis' immediate parking concerns, Baranowski reiterates that additional spaces will be added to the area at the end of Main Street near Opus 9 in the spring. Also, the entrance for the neighboring gym will be to the rear of the building, where patrons will likely park. Opus 9 has done well as a business, and Baranowski says that owner Steve Lewis is “a good restaurant operator.” Baranowski feels the Main Street shops are in a good position. The strength of New Town in general has been food, with restaurants such as Bonefish, Panera and Buffalo Wild Wings doing really well. If the area weren’t attractive, “we would not have the ability to put in JoAnn Fabrics,” a company that has been doing exceptionally well nationally, he points out. “It speaks to the Williamsburg market and to our center, to have these stores here,” says Baranowski. “We’re excited that we’re able to replace tenants and bring more traffic to Main Street. “The economy is on the rebound, and our center is on the rebound.” |
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Comments
Well, there is one positive note to the owner's thinking. If they continue their current practices, New Town will make a great Flea Market soon.
I know from first hand knowledge of THREE, and likely more, businesses that were made handshake deals to be in NewTown and then, after the fact, the 'friendship' deal never happened.
There are parts of the world where a handshake is a bond. Not here, not in America, seems a contract has to exist for every contingency.
Not good
This has NOTHING to do with complaints about competition...h ave you read ANY OF the comments on this story?
What fun it will be to sit in a beautiful restaurant and try to enjoy a quiet dinner while the thump, thump, thump noises of the loud exercise music rattles the walls!....NOT!!!
If the developer likes Main Street so much, why doesn't he repair the broken storefront windows? Put AFF over in Settler's Market in a free-standing building and leave the ambiance of Main Street alone--who needs sweat-sock smells wafting through the air as you stroll down the street?
Regardless of what Cheeburger Cheeburger and Maggie Moo were grossing, it obviously wasn't enough for them to survive--so the formula must be out of whack!
At least we can be thankful for one thing...the delightful new wine shop, World of Wine, and its regular events that bring customers to Main Street!