OTTUMWA —
New stores, activities and shoppers will be coming to Quincy Place Mall if Alan Retkinski is right; he’s been right before.
“We’re active owners,” said Retkinski, president of Lexington Realty International, the new owner of the mall in Ottumwa. “We’re not passive investors.”
The New York company owns several malls in the Midwest, and it’s not hard for the boss to hop on a direct flight from New Jersey to Des Moines.
“Believe it or not, we can be in and out within 24 hours,” said Retkinski. “We’re [planning on being on site] every six to eight weeks.”
“I think this goes along great with where Ottumwa is headed,” said Terry McNitt, director of the Ottumwa Area Chamber of Commerce.
In the meantime, mall manager Staci Shettler will be on site — when she’s not knocking on doors. Management said in addition to courting national chains to find tenants, they’ll be working to make local businesses feel welcome at the mall. Those are the people shoppers consider friends and neighbors. It makes the mall more of a community meeting place, something Retkinski says is very important to him and to the success of a shopping mall.
“He’s had the successes in other [markets],” said Shettler, “so he has the numbers to back that [optimism] up.”
In Minnesota and South Dakota, Retkinski said, the company purchased malls with 65 percent of the space rented out. He’s brought one to 93 percent occupancy, one to 96 percent and the other is 100 percent full. Retkinski actively pursues tenants, though when he was at a recent trade show, potential tenants were actively pursuing space in rural area malls.
Another way he gets his malls active is with community events: carnivals, blood drives, craft shows. They bring the community to the mall. The public has something nice to do, and the merchants have increased traffic.
“At least two events every month. Everybody benefits,” he said. “The mall becomes a meeting place. When it’s hot out, it’s cool inside. When it’s cold, it’s warm and comfortable inside. We’ll have comfortable seating, I’m putting in free Wi-Fi, and I want a children’s playground.”
The deluxe playgrounds have been a big hit in other places, he said, and he can typically find sponsors who want to have, for example, the Coca-Cola Play Area.
And the mall is going to look better, too, as the company performs tenant improvement renovations.
“I’ve also put money into the marketing, advertising and landscaping budget,” Retkinski said. “I don’t know if there had been money set aside for [landscaping] before. But now Staci has [that funding] in the budget.”
The general contractor for most work is their own go-to guy, but their policy is to try hiring as many local people as possible to get the work done. In their other malls, they have brought in restaurants, clothing stores, sporting goods — even a Best Buy at one of them.
Those stores typically come in looking for employees, too. Best Buy had to hire 50.
“They typically bring in jobs,” he said.
And Quincy Place Mall anchor stores, which already employ residents, appear healthy and willing to stay, he said.
Retkinski already lined up tenants needing about 65,000 square feet of space. He told chamber of commerce representatives they’d like the tenants, who currently don’t have a local presence.
He said he can’t share exactly who has signed a letter of intent in Ottumwa, but that the public would know soon.
“We’re talking a matter of weeks, not months. [Perhaps] within four weeks,” Retkinski said.
Local News
Related Photos
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Mall manager Staci Shettler, left, and members of the business community listen Thursday as new owner Alan Retkinski, president of Lexington Realty International, lays out his vision for a busy, welcoming and more dynamic Quincy Place Mall. Mark Newman/The Courier
June 15, 2012
Optimism at Quincy Place Mall
Management seeking national chains as well as working to make local businesses feel welcome
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