PV Mall hurt by vacancies

by Eugene Scott The Arizona Republic Jul. 31, 2010 12:00 AM

The Valley's newest Costco opened at Paradise Valley Mall last summer.

Westcor, which owns the northeast Phoenix mall, hoped the addition of the popular wholesale retailer along with the reopening of a movie theater this summer would be the catalyst to increasing the mall's occupancy.

A year later, the vacancy rate at Paradise Valley Mall has not changed, with 20 empty stores.

Mall officials say the economy is to blame, but some critics say that the indoor mall and others like it may have already had their best days.

The 20 vacancies at Paradise Valley Mall, at the northwestern corner of Tatum Boulevard and Cactus Road, don't include kiosks. Despite the opening of several stores over the last year, mall officials said it's the highest number of vacancies in years.

The vacancy rate at Paradise Valley mall is 15 percent. The national vacancy rate for shopping malls is 10.9 percent, while the shopping-mall vacancy rate in Phoenix is 11.4 percent, according to REIS, a New York City company that tracks commercial real estate.

Getting new occupants isn't as simple as some may think, said Thomas Randall, senior property manager at PV Mall.

"Not only are we continuing to rebuild, we're still in the current economic state that the entire nation is in," Randall said. "All those factor into the progress we're making and the speed in which we're trying to accomplish that."

Retailers that normally would have opened stores in northeast Phoenix aren't expanding as quickly, he said. And mall officials said attracting a new company may take awhile because they are selective about which stores they bring to the mall.

"It's not a matter of attracting the latest and greatest" trends, Randall said. "We (Westcor) all are involved in attracting the right retailer for each one of our centers."



PV Mall hurt by vacancies