Eastfield Mall Archives

Rest in Peace, Eastfield Mall

By Editorial July 19, 2023

Editorial

The Eastfield Mall has officially passed into history.

And this passing certainly prompts some reflection — on what has been and what is to come at the sprawling site on Wilbraham Road.

As for what has been … well, the mall was something of a marvel when it opened back in 1968. This region hadn’t seen anything quite like it. The indoor mall was new and totally captivating.

Someone could park the car once and go shopping, get a meal at one of several restaurants (including the famous Flaming Pit), get a haircut, watch a movie, take a walk, do some people watching … all of that and more.

Before Eastfield, people went downtown to shop, be it in Springfield, Holyoke, Westfield, Chicopee, Amherst, or Northampton, visiting a host of different stores and buildings as they did so. This was a completely different kind of experience, and the mall drew people from all across the region.

Eastfield ceased being a wonder in relatively short order. Other malls, which collectively doomed the region’s downtowns, save for Northampton’s (and even it struggled until the early ’80s) were built in downtown Springfield (Tower Square, then known as Baystate West, was a center for retail), Chicopee, Hadley, and Holyoke. It was the Holyoke Mall, which was much bigger and featured many more stores, that pushed Eastfield to second-tier status.

Still, Eastfield persevered on the strength of its anchors and an eclectic mix of national and local stores and remained a destination.

Until … the retail world started to change dramatically, especially with the advent of online shopping. One by one, the anchors, including Sears and JCPenney, disappeared from Eastfield — and many other sites as well. Then, the theaters closed, and some of the smaller shops did as well. While other malls found new uses for their retail spaces — everything from trampoline parks to bowling alleys — Eastfield struggled to do so.

Eventually, its massive, all-but-empty parking lot became a symbol of a changing retail landscape.

For years, there has been talk about what will come next at the site — a 21st-century facility that will be mixed-use, blending a residential component with retail, hospitality, and support businesses. Work on demolition will begin soon, and construction on what is expected to be a $65 million to $85 million facility will commence soon after.

Meanwhile, most of the 40 or so businesses and nonprofits that were in the mall have found new homes. Many have relocated to other sites in Springfield, but others have put down roots in surrounding communities, including Wilbraham, Ludlow, and Holyoke.

This is a developing story, and an intriguing chapter in the Eastfield story, one in which the businesses that gave the mall its character and charm will live on.

As for the mall itself, it will live on in memories. Like old ballparks, malls (most of them anyway) can’t become something else. They have to be destroyed because their useful life is over.

This was a sad but predictable, and inevitable, end for what had been, and still is in some ways, a landmark.

Rest in peace, Eastfield Mall.

Eastfield Mall Redevelopment Will Change the Landscape

By George O'Brien April 14, 2023

Cover Story

What’s in Store?

Brian Kaplan, vice president of Development for Onyx Partners

When Dennis Smith Jr. says the old 99 Restaurant location in the Eastfield Mall is the ideal space for the Empowerment Center operated by the Massachusetts Military Support Foundation, a facility that provides veterans with everything from food to clothing to referrals for legal help, he means ideal.

Indeed, the site, which became available after the restaurant ultimately failed to regain its footing after the pandemic, boasts plenty of space, a lobby area for greeting vets and presenting them with information, freezers and refrigerators for storage of food, ample parking, location on a major thoroughfare (Boston Road), a stop on a bus route … there’s even warehouse space that’s been made available to the foundation at the Ocean State Job Lot across the street.

As ideal as all this was, Smith, who became the center’s director last July, knew it was only temporary. The mall, opened in 1968 and the first facility of its kind in Greater Springfield, has been targeted for redevelopment for close to a decade now and will officially close its doors in July. The question concerning demolition of the landmark (yes, it can be called that) was always when, not if, said Smith.

So, almost from the day he started at the center, he has been exploring where the facility can go next, and he’s looking for a spot that can check as many boxes as the current site as possible, knowing it is unlikely he will find something quite so ideal.

“Nothing has been finalized as to our exact plan. It could consist of primarily retail, but also other uses such as residential, storage, medical office, restaurants — we’re still looking at a few of those options.”

“I’m looking at a number of sites right now,” he said, noting that he recently toured a former Walgreens location on St. James Avenue in Springfield. “It’s going to be very hard to match what we have here, but we’ll try.”

Where the center and the 40-odd other businesses at the mall eventually land — and most are expected to land somewhere — and when are just a few of the many subplots to a broad and intriguing story that could change the landscape on Boston Road and elsewhere in a number of ways.

Others obviously include the reimagining of the mall itself. This has been an ongoing story, but one that will become real when demolition begins later this year, said Brian Kaplan, vice president of Development with Needham-based Onyx Partners, which is remaking the site into what he expects will be a mixed-use facility featuring retail, restaurants, and other, still-to-be determined businesses and residential uses.

“Nothing has been finalized as to our exact plan,” he told BusinessWest. “It could consist of primarily retail, but also other uses such as residential, storage, medical office, restaurants — we’re still looking at a few of those options.”

Dennis Smith Jr. has been looking for a new home for the Empowerment Center operated by the Massachusetts Military Support Foundation almost since the day he arrived, knowing Eastfield Mall’s days were numbered.

Another aspect to the story is the potential impact of the relocation of the tenants on specific retail areas and communities. Indeed, the retail sector has been struggling in general, and especially since COVID. Officials with the Western Massachusetts Economic Development Council (EDC), which is coordinating the relocation process for tenants, said the evictions might provide a boost for specific properties and business districts.

The region hasn’t seen many mass relocations like this one, with the most recent one coming when MGM Springfield purchased 95 State St. in Springfield for its own use, displacing a few dozen law firms that found space in several different office buildings within a mile or so of the Hampden County Courthouse.

This process will be different, and for some tenants, it may prove to be challenging, said Xiomara DeLobato, chief of staff of the EDC, adding that many have had very favorable lease rates at the mall and may experience a form of sticker shock as they explore other options.

The EDC is working with Springfield-based Homes Logic Real Estate to create customized solutions for each tenant, she noted. “Our intent is to make sure that we’re providing one-on-one support for each step in the process as they look for vacancies or potential locations to set them up for success.”

For this issue, BusinessWest looks at the many aspects of the Eastfield Mall redevelopment story and what they might mean for the region and its real-estate sector.

End of an Era

There is a quiet, eerie feeling at the mall these days.

The massive parking lot off Boston Road is all but empty. Inside, most of the smaller businesses are still open, but there is little foot traffic as the end nears. This sits in stark contrast to the mall’s better days, and there were many of them, when several anchors, including Sears and JCPenney, were thriving; a multiplex theater was operating; and the mall was still a destination.

“Our intent is to make sure that we’re providing one-on-one support for each step in the process as they look for vacancies or potential locations to set them up for success.”

It hasn’t been that for some time, as the anchors and then the theaters closed, mirroring what was happening at malls across the country as consumers increasingly did their buying online and major retailers, like Sears, all but vanished from the landscape.

Today, the mall is experiencing a slow, painful death that comes amid great expectation about what can and ultimately will happen at this site, and a wide range of emotions concerning existing tenants — who will be free of rent and utility charges for these last few months — and what will happen with them.

Let’s start with what’s next for the mall. Kaplan said Onyx often builds new, but it has worked on projects similar to the Eastfield Mall redevelopment initiative in other regions of Massachusetts, Southern New Hampshire, and several other states.

He said the Eastfield Mall project was presented to the company last fall, and after extensive due diligence, the decision was made to move forward and acquire the property, with work ratcheting up in recent months on everything from meetings with tenants to filings with the city.

He believes demolition will begin sometime later this year, after local approvals are secured, with a 12- to 18-month construction process to follow.

Redevelopment will take place in stages, he noted, adding that phase one will, in all likelihood, be retail, restaurants, and services, with a mix of national brands and local ventures, similar in some respects to what exists now, but in a far more modern, 21st-century facility.

The clock is winding down on Eastfield Mall, which will be redeveloped into a modern mixed-use facility.

What will follow will be a function of demand and feasibility, Kaplan noted, adding that the canvas will likely be filled in over several years. Residential development is likely to follow, with more businesses to provide services to those living nearby.

The project could include some of the current tenants at Eastfield, he said, adding that it is possible that some will choose to find a temporary home and ultimately return. The others, which include a broad mix of national retailers and local businesses, will settle elsewhere.

Onyx is collaborating with the EDC and working with other stakeholders, including local and state agencies, to come up with a plan for each tenant, he said, adding that each case is different, obviously, and will require a personalized solution.

Rick Sullivan, president and CEO of the EDC, said the agency’s mission is broad, and includes work to bring new businesses to the region and also retain existing businesses and jobs. Finding new homes for displaced Eastfield Mall tenants is a somewhat unique assignment, but it fits the EDC’s job description, if you will.

“It fits in with a focus that we have moving forward, which is on small businesses in terms of having them grow and flourish in the region,” he explained. “This is an opportunity where there are about 40 businesses that have been in operation for some time, and in some cases, they’re original tenants.”

The national tenants, and they include Old Navy, LensCrafters, Kay Jewelers, T-Mobile, and a host of others, have the resources and staffs to handle relocation efforts, if they choose to move those outlets, said Sullivan, adding that the EDC’s primary focus is the local tenants, ranging from the Mall Barber to Donovan’s Irish Pub to Mykonos, a Greek restaurant that has been at the mall since the very beginning.

Many will choose to try to stay in Springfield, he went on, adding that others are willing to look outside the city and the Boston Road area, which presents opportunities for retail areas that were impacted by the pandemic and the general shifting tide of retail — and there are many of them.

Some would prefer to stay in a mall-like setting, he went on, while others might opt to find their own space. Most are looking to lease space, but some are considering the purchase of real estate, which could bring its own benefits.

“Some are willing to look at downtown Springfield or downtown Holyoke,” Sullivan said. “They may not necessarily need to be in a mall setting or Boston Road — although some of them need to be there because that’s where their client base is.”

Up from the Ashes

The demise of the mall certainly has the attention of property owners and real-estate brokers in the region, especially those that specialize in retail spaces.

Evan Plotkin, president of NAI Plotkin, has several retail properties in the portfolio, as well as 1350 Main St., the office tower in downtown Springfield that has a significant amount of ground-floor retail space, much if it vacant since the departure of Santander Bank several years ago.

As he walked BusinessWest through that space, Plotkin said it would be an ideal landing spot for some of the Eastfield businesses.

“There are a lot of people who still work downtown or come here for events or to do business,” he said, noting that 1350 Main will soon be welcoming some new office tenants that could generate additional foot traffic. “Some of those mall businesses could do well here.”

Tower Square is another potential landing spot, and Demetrious Panteleakis, a principal with the Macmillan Group, the leasing agent for the office and retail complex, said he has talked with some of the mall tenants about making a move downtown and all that is involved with that decision.

“There’s a potential positive economic spin that goes beyond just the mall investment.”

“We’re very different as it pertains to such things as parking,” he explained, listing just one of the issues being discussed. “Although we have plenty of parking, it’s not typical retail parking; we’re tower parking.”

Overall, he said Tower Square ownership is focused on finding new tenants that can provide needed products and services to tenants of that tower and perhaps those surrounding it. The planned new Big Y market, a scaled-down version of its supermarkets that will go into space once occupied by CVS, is a good example, as are existing tenants, ranging from White Lion Brewing Co. to Dunkin’ Donuts to SkinCatering, a salon and spa. And some of the mall tenants might fit that description.

“We have a spa and hairdresser, a bar, our food court … businesses that support people who work here and don’t want to leave the building,” Panteleakis said, adding that additional hospitality-related businesses that don’t compete directly with existing businesses might be good fits.

As for Smith and his search for a new home for the Empowerment Center, he said there is some “intense work” going on as he tries to find a space that is affordable and checks at least most of the boxes that the old 99 Restaurant does.

“I have a number of great locations that I’d like to go to,” he told BusinessWest. “It comes down to what can be negotiated with the local property owners — that will determine where we go; we’ll just take it step by step.”

Summing up what’s happening on Boston Road, Sullivan said that, while the demise of the mall is regrettable in some ways, there are several bright spots to this ongoing story.

For starters, there is a national developer, Onyx, that has committed to redeveloping the site into something that speaks to the present and future, and not the past, when it comes to retail. Meanwhile, the relocation of the many existing tenants could provide a spark for some communities and their downtowns.

“There’s a potential positive economic spin that goes beyond just the mall investment, and that’s why the EDC is involved,” he told BusinessWest. “There’s potential to grow and amplify that investment in the region.”

Time will tell just how much that investment will be amplified, but the parties involved in this developing story say there are many intriguing chapters still to come.

Eastfield Mall Converts Some Luck, Creative Thinking into Needed Momentum

By George O'Brien April 14, 2021

Features Special Coverage

Courting Possibilities

Dave Thompson stands in the lobby of the former Cinemark Theaters at the mall, many of which will now be used for jury trials and other court facilities.

Since the collapse of retail began in earnest a decade or more ago, the future of the Eastfield Mall in Springfield has always been shrouded by question marks. They certainly remain today, but some recent COVID-related events — creation of a vaccination site and moving of jury trials to theaters in the malls — have certainly changed the landscape at the facility on Boston Road, while providing more proof of just what’s possible there: almost anything.

By George O’Brien

The latest map of the property at the Eastfield Mall in Springfield tells an intriguing story about just how that property is emerging — and will continue to evolve in the months and years to come.

Indeed, now positioned in the center of the huge space that connotes where several cinemas once operated is the logo for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Court System, which will soon conduct jury trials in several of those theaters. Meanwhile, in the massive, 125,000-square-foot space that was a Macy’s store, there’s a logo for the Curative COVID-19 vaccine site now operating there, as well as the logo for Diem Cannabis, which hopes to soon operate a cultivation, manufacturing, and distribution facility at that site. And in the former Sears site, now owned by Eastern Retail Properties, there is the promise of additional retail development, the scope and nature of which is not yet known.

“It’s been extremely challenging to keeps the lights on, if you will.”

These logos and the operations behind them show how the mall’s owners have been aggressively, and imaginatively, seeking and often finding new uses for huge retail spaces at a time when retail is retrenching — to put it mildly. They also show how the mall has benefited from good luck and some unanticipated twists and turns — many of them COVID-related, at a time when COVID has made retail a very challenging proposition. Still.

“It’s been extremely challenging to keeps the lights on, if you will,” said Dave Thompson, property manager at the mall. “But we’re a pretty creative bunch here, so we’ve been able to do that; in fact, we have a waiting list for in-line tenant spaces — we’re 100% full.”

Overall, the mall is in the midst of a massive, 10-year (at least) redevelopment plan that will dramatically alter the look and feel of the landmark — yes, it can be called that — that opened in the mid-’60s to considerable fanfare. The rebranded property, to be called Eastfield Commons, will include a mix of commercial and residential spaces — roughly 450,000 to 500,000 square feet of the former, and 276 units of the latter.

The pace of progress on this redevelopment has definitely been slowed by COVID, said Chuck Breidenbach, managing director of the Retail Properties Group for Mountain Development, which owns most of the Eastfield Mall site, noting that many in the development community have taken a breather of sorts during the pandemic, especially those involved with retail.

“Everyone just dug in their heels when it came to thinking about the future,” he explained. “It’s been a tough development climate, especially with retail because so many retailers were closing — for good or with a certain number of stores. Or they were trying to downsize their footprints. A lot of that was going on before COVID hit, but COVID really accelerated that process exponentially.”

The situation has improved slightly, nationally and locally, but the retail picture remains cloudy in many respects. In the meantime, though, the mall is taking full advantage of the opportunities that have presented themselves. Together, they have provided foot traffic, some revenue, and also some insight into what’s possible at this site, meaning … well, just about anything that makes sense, a broad concept, to be sure.

For this issue, BusinessWest takes an in-depth look at what’s happening at the mall — and what could happen in the years to come at a complex with an intriguing past and a future dominated by vast potential — and a large number of question marks.

Space Exploration

Just after the COVID vaccine site opened, Thompson told BusinessWest, he would plant himself in the many common areas at the mall and pick up on the conversations being had, many of them involving people waiting in line to get a vaccine or wandering around the mall after receiving one.

What he heard verified what he already knew — that people who hadn’t been to the mall in years, or decades, had pretty much lost track of what was happening there; they may have taken in some headlines, but they didn’t know the full story.

“We’d hear people say … ‘I didn’t know there were still stores in the Eastfield Mall,” he said, adding that these comments were deflating in some ways — the mall still maintains a broad mix of 80 local and national retail outlets ranging from Old Navy to Hannoush Jewelers to Milan Menswear — but somewhat encouraging, at least from the perspective that people are learning, becoming more aware, and coming back to the mall for shopping visits.

“We’ve seen a good upward swing in foot traffic,” he explained. “I think we have a lot of return patrons who have gotten vaccinated and now realize there are stores here, so they’re coming back.”

The conversion of theaters into courtrooms is one of several positive and unexpected developments at Eastfield Mall.

That’s just one of a number of developments that have come about, somewhat unexpectedly, and that bode well for the mall, for both the present and the future. The COVID vaccine facility is bringing large numbers of people to the site every day and, as noted, giving them a chance to update themselves on all things Eastfield Mall. The courts moving into the old theaters, meanwhile, will bring in much-needed revenue from a site that was abandoned and trashed by theater operators Cinemark and in need of major renovations if it was to be leased out again.

Meanwhile, the Diem Cannabis operation, now winding its way through the licensing process, will fill a building that has been mostly vacant for some time now, bringing new energy and vibrancy to what has been a tired retail site.

As noted earlier, some of this has been good luck, circumstance, and having the right space at the right time, while much of it has also been hard work and creativity.

“Everyone just dug in their heels when it came to thinking about the future. It’s been a tough development climate, especially with retail because so many retailers were closing — for good or with a certain number of stores. Or they were trying to downsize their footprints. A lot of that was going on before COVID hit, but COVID really accelerated that process exponentially.”

Indeed, Thompson says he isn’t exactly sure how the state found the Eastfield Mall and started pursuing it as a vaccination site. “I don’t know, and sometimes it’s better if you don’t ask a lot of questions,” he said with a laugh, adding that he took the phone call roughly three months ago (he doesn’t remember from whom) that set things in motion.

Recalling that conversation and those that followed, he said the state was impressed by the ample amounts of parking and a location that, while not ideal, is close to Mass Pike exit 7 and easily accessible to a number of communities, including Springfield, Ludlow, Wilbraham, Longmeadow, and East Longmeadow.

The state isn’t paying rent for use of the property — something Thompson certainly laments — but it has brought exposure and a boost for many of the retailers as some getting vaccines have stopped to shop or get a bite to eat.

And this new life, as temporary as it is likely to be, represents just one of a number of positive steps forward at the mall. The relocation of court trials to several of the old movie theaters is another. That was another call that seemed to come from out of the blue — and a desire to move along many of the trials that have been delayed by COVID.

The state will use three of the 16 theaters for courtrooms and several of the others for other purposes, said Thompson, adding that the initial lease is for a year, but the hope is that the state, as it looks for permanent solutions to a host of problems at the Roderick Ireland Courthouse downtown, will give serious consideration to the mall and its theaters.

“Talking with the individuals that have been here from the state, they believe that if the powers that be decide to land here on a more permanent basis, that would be fine,” he told BusinessWest. “They love the way it’s set up.”

What’s in Store?

As for some of those other spaces … a long-term lease with Friendly Ice Cream, headquartered just down the street, to use the former JCPenney location as warehouse space, recently expired, said Thompson, adding that there have already been discussions with many parties about using that space for the same purpose, which represents one of the more logical future uses for that site.

Breidenbach concurred. “We’d like to find another retailer, but if not, we’d would certainly be open to office, residential, or medical uses,” he said, adding that JCPenney moved out nearly a decade ago, and there have been a number of short-term tenants in the interim. “We’re looking for a long-term tenant, but the trouble now is trying to find retail tenants that will take on 125,000 square feet; right now, they are few and far between.”

Dave Thompson says the COVID-19 vaccination site has brought additional foot traffic to the mall.

While dealing with the short-term and immediate answers to the many questions hovering over the mall, the main focus is on the long term, said Briedenbach, adding that the facility will obviously become mixed-use in nature, with that mix still being a work in progress.

The goal is to create a facility where individuals can live, work, shop, eat, and attain needed services, he noted, adding that the pieces to this puzzle will come together over a number of years, depending on the appetite of the development community.

The east side of the property, which runs along Kent Road, is being eyed for residential development, he said, adding that a recent zone change of that area from residential B to residential C should help these efforts. As noted, 276 units are being eyed for land on the east side of the property, with 23 buildings of 12 units each. Meanwhile, that JCPenney site could be retrofitted for senior housing, student housing, or related types of uses, he noted.

As for other components of the live/work/shop puzzle, Breidenbach said the Diem Cannabis project could provide several of those qualities, including jobs and some retail that would bring more foot traffic to the site, possibly inspiring still more retail. The hope, and also the expectation, is that, as pieces to the puzzle come together, the broad Eastfield site will become more of a destination — for many different constituencies.

“We’re looking for a long-term tenant, but the trouble now is trying to find retail tenants that will take on 125,000 square feet; right now, they are few and far between.”

For inspiration when it comes to what’s possible, this region can look to another Mountain Development project, this one at the Eastern Hills Mall in Buffalo, N.Y., a similar initiative that is further along in the development process, said Breidenbach, adding that a local developer has been secured, and plans are now in the design stage and headed for the environmental-review process.

“That site is much larger — it’s 100 acres — and we’re looking at retail, restaurants, entertainment, hotel, office … you name it,” he said. “There are a lot of things that can be done there.”

And at Eastfield as well, he said, adding that the project is moving forward step by step, with the next one being to secure a development partner for the residential aspect of the project. After that, and once that part of the project comes off the drawing board, he expects other pieces to the puzzle to fall into place.

“This is going to be a 10-year project, and right now, we’re just taking it one piece at a time,” he said. “We’re going to go one step at a time and do what’s right for the mall and the community.”

Bottom Line

These days, there are far fewer lines for people to get their COVID shots. Indeed, Curative has improved the process, and now, people can arrive just before their scheduled injection.

This doesn’t leave as many opportunities for Thompson to gather intel, if you will, from those now finding their way to the mall. But in his mind, he’s already gathered enough. He knows there is still much work to do when it comes to telling the mall’s story — and an equal amount of work when it comes to filling in the canvas with regard to the long-term future of this landmark.

Thus far, through some good fortune and creative thinking, the picture is starting to fill in, and the full extent of the opportunities that exist is coming increasingly into focus.

George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]

A New Vision Is Emerging for the Eastfield Mall

By George O'Brien October 16, 2018

Features

Thinking Outside the Big Box

This Google Earth image of the Eastfield Mall shows how, with the closing of its main anchors, its vast parking lots are almost empty.

The emergence of online shopping giants like Amazon and changing shopping patterns have spelled doom for giant retailers while also hastening the demise of indoor shopping malls across the country. The Eastfield Mall in Springfield is part of this trend, and so is the ambitious plan for its next life — as a so-called ‘community within a community.’

Chuck Breidenbach says the term ‘de-malling’ — or the verb ‘de-mall’ — while still not officially in the dictionary, has been part of the business lexicon for quite some time now.

That’s because, ever since they started building large, enclosed shopping malls more than 50 years ago, some have occasionally failed and had to be repurposed. This region has witnessed the phenomenon a few times, starting with the so-called ‘dead mall’ in Hadley, which went silent more than 30 years ago, and the Fairfield Mall in Chicopee, which succumbed at the start of this century.

But the pace of de-malling has picked up in recent years, as everyone knows, thanks to Amazon and other online retailers, as well as changing shopping habits, especially among the younger generations. And with those trends, old shopping malls have found new lives as everything from homeless shelters to apartment complexes to mixed-use facilities blending residential, retail, and entertainment elements.

Which brings us to the Eastfield Mall in Springfield, near the border with Wilbraham. The facility is historic, sort of, because it is the first enclosed mall in the region, opened in the mid-’60s. But it is also typical of recent trends, because most all of its big box stores — Sears, JCPenney, and Macy’s — have closed, leaving hundreds of thousands of square feet of vacant retail space looking for a new purpose.

Finding one has been Breidenbach’s day job (or one of them) for some time now, in his role as managing director of MDC Retail Properties Group, a division of New Jersey-based Mountain Development Group, which has owned the mall since 1998.

Mountain Development recently hired the real-estate brokerage firm Cushman and Wakefield to market a joint-venture partnership opportunity for the property’s mixed-use development. The solution taking shape on the drawing board — a work in progress, to be sure — is called Eastfield Commons, a $200 million, mixed-use development that Breidenbach likes to call a “community within a community.”

That’s because it will be just that, a community, a place where — theoretically, but also realistically — if all goes as planned, someone can live, work, shop, eat, take their children to daycare, go to the gym, see a movie, and more, all while walking a few hundred yards at most.

“You want to develop this as a tightly knit, walkable community,” he explained, adding that just what shape this community will take remains to be seen.

At many converted malls, the inclination is to go vertical, with multi-story developments. But at Eastfield, the tact may well be to go horizontal, with one or two levels.

The concept plan taking shape (see rendering on page 8) calls for 450,000 to 500,000 square feet of commercial space (remodeled and new construction) and 23 residential buildings with 12 units each (276 total units). The cinemas will remain, as will the existing food court.

“The idea is to open it up and take it from an enclosed mall to an open-air concept with a lot of public space, a lot of green space … very much the opposite of what you get in an enclosed mall,” he said, adding that this has been the trend nationally, by and large.

“Our vision is to put in a number of restaurants of different types and price points so people have their choice,” he went on. “And to also have some specialty retail, a mix of national and local, so we can give this center its own local flair.”

Flair of any kind has been a missing ingredient at the sprawling site off Boston Road, but as the art and science of mall conversion continues to mature — and Springfield continues its economic recovery — there is considerable optimism that Eastfield can do what it did 50 years ago and get the region buzzing about something new and different.

“The idea is to open it up and take it from an enclosed mall to an open-air concept with a lot of public space, a lot of green space … very much the opposite of what you get in an enclosed mall.”

For this issue, BusinessWest talked at length with Breidenbach about mall redevelopment in general, and repurposing Eastfield in particular. He noted that, with these projects, the market will dictate what can be done, but imaginative, outside-the-box — or in this case, outside-the-big-box — thinking is always needed.

Setting Sale

Breidenbach has had a long career in retail — long enough to have seen malls come to what amounts to full circle, meaning from being in demand to being in serious decline.

“I’ve seen a lot of things come and go; I’ve lived through the golden years of shopping centers, when you couldn’t put them up fast enough,” he told BusinessWest. “And now, we’re in the gray years of shopping centers, where you can’t redevelop or convert them into something else fast enough.”

The latest cycle — of conversion, or de-malling — began early in this century, he went on, adding that, as was noted earlier, Fairfield Mall, now the site of a Home Depot and other retail outlets, was part of that early wave.

But the pace of conversion really picked up roughly a decade ago, he said, as the Great Recession, coupled with the emergence of online retailers and some changing shopping patterns, took a huge toll on traditional retailers, a trend that continues today.

“There was a change in generations,” he explained. “The Baby Boom generation was and still is, in many ways, a very shopping-oriented culture. The Millennials and Generation-X folks are not.”

Some facilities — Breidenbach calls them super-regional malls, or fortress malls (the Holyoke Mall is one of them) — have been more resilient to the forces of change, because of sheer volume of stores, location (the Holyoke Mall certainly has that), and other factors.

“Holyoke has multiple levels, multiple anchors, parking decks … it’s made to do a massive amount of business,” he explained. “And retailers have pulled back into those fortress malls really as a means of protection.”

Meanwhile, those same retailers are leaving smaller facilities such as Eastfield, he went on, adding that the handwriting was pretty much on the wall for many of these malls years ago. And major real-estate companies, such as the Rouse Co., which developed and owned Eastfield for many years, saw that handwriting and sold off many of those properties.

Today, Eastfield’s huge parking lots fronting Boston Road are barren wastelands. Cars, and not many of them, are clustered near one of the main entrances where a few retailers still do business, such as Old Navy, the 99 Restaurant, O’Donnell’s Restaurant, and others.

Changing this landscape is an involved process, said Breidenbach, adding that, when it comes to how malls are converted these days, it’s generally a function of what the market in question wants, needs, and will support. In other words, while there are models that be studied and perhaps borrowed from, each property is unique, and so is its conversion.

Opened in 1967, Eastfield was the region’s first enclosed mall. Today, it is part of an ongoing trend that is seeing these facilities put to new and imaginative uses.

“Your market studies will lead you to specific strategies and different amounts of space devoted to different types of uses,” he explained. “Those studies will determine how much you need for multi-family rental, multi-family condominium-style properties, retail uses, restaurant uses, entertainment uses, personal services, medical uses, health and fitness — it all depends on what the market will bear, what’s missing in the area, and what people are leaving the area to try and find because they’re dissatisfied with what they get, or it’s not being supplied.

“We have to follow the numbers very closely,” he went on, adding that market studies are followed up with surveys of various constituencies (including residents, small-business owners, and restaurateurs) in the area in question asking people what they want to see and what they’ll come to that location for.

At Eastfield, the emerging solution is a what Breidenbach calls a ‘live, work, play’ atmosphere, one that is seemingly internet-resistant.

This rendering shows the proposed components of Eastfield Commons.

In other words, one can’t live on the internet, or eat a meal there, or have their haircut there, or take dance lessons there.

And that’s the general idea as one goes about repurposing a mall, he went on, adding that the goal is to create a destination that will hopefully appeal to all generations, but especially those who seem to like this model — empty-nesters and the younger audiences that are less inclined to shop than their parents or grandparents.

“These younger generations would much rather pay for an experience than an expensive pair of jeans,” said Breidenbach, adding that ‘experience’ is a broad term that covers everything from a movie to a meal out to laser tag.

And these sentiments are reflected in some of the statistics relayed to attendees at the latest Shopping Center Convention in Las Vegas, a massive gathering Breidenbach has attended religiously for decades now.

“We heard that restaurant sales in the U.S. had surpassed grocery stores for the first time in history,” he said. “That means more people are eating out — they’re spending their time and money in that direction, as opposed to eating at home and then buying things.”

The Shopping Center Convention, staged annually in May, has seen discussion gravitate in recent years toward the internet and, more specifically, how to survive it, with a big focus being on just what to do with traditional malls, like Eastfield, that have been marginalized (Breidenbach’s word) by the fortress malls and online shopping.

Mixed-use developments — vertical and horizontal alike — have become the answer in many cases, with individual components varying, as stated earlier, with identified need and demand.

Breidenbach believes there will be a need for housing at that site, particularly the multi-family variety, because there haven’t been any new developments of that type in that area in decades, and there is apparent need for such a product.

“We see a huge a huge opportunity there for up-do-date multi-family housing,” he told BusinessWest. “And we also see a need for up-to-date, current retail space, meaning junior anchors, stores up to 20,000 to 25,000 square feet; this is an opportunity to think differently.”

Registering Results

Or to think outside the box — the big box, he said in conclusion.

Such thinking is necessary at Eastfield, a once-vibrant shopping area that has become part of an ongoing trend in this country — one that is seeing the enclosed shopping mall turned into a relative ghost town.

Now, Eastfield wants to be part of another trend — bringing new life to these deserted or nearly deserted areas.

If things go as planned, a property that made some history a half-century ago can make some more.

George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]

Rest in Peace, Eastfield Mall

Editorial

Eastfield Mall Redevelopment Will Change the Landscape