Redevelopment deals bring new life to retail centers

Wanting to extend the life of existing retail centers and keep shoppers close to home,

Westminster has found the right incentive package can attract stores to older projects when those

same developers might prefer the easier and sometimes less-expensive option of undeveloped

land.

Recent deals have been negotiated with Home Depot, the star attraction at Brookhill Shopping

Center, and Safeway, the big-name store in the Westminster Plaza redevelopment, according to

City Manager Bill Christopher. A similar incentive also was offered to the developer at Mission

Commons center, where Gateway Computers is the new retail anchor.

All of those packages were money well spent, he says.

In each case, the city put together business assistance packages in which sales tax rebates

were the big carrot.

For Home Depot the package was worth $3 million over six years. Safeway’s package was

nearly $1.6 million. The Plaza developer also was provided with the site and offered a further $2

million incentive package.

“It’s a good investment in order to bring all these stores to Westminster. This type of

redevelopment of shopping centers is critical to the fabric of our community,” Christopher says.

“Nobody wants to see a run-down, dirty city center with graffiti, crime and all sorts of other

social problems.”

Redeveloping a shopping center that has fallen on hard times is a risk for the developer, so

incentives can be necessary, Christopher says.

Home Depot, for example, looked at two other undeveloped sites, but Westminster felt it was

important to entice the home improvement center to Brookhill because of the huge amount of

shopping traffic it would deliver.

Christopher says Brookhill had lost vitality in much the same way as Westminster Plaza,

which, after about 40 years, had “gone through the life cycle of a shopping center.”

At the Plaza, it was more cost effective to tear down most of the buildings and start again, but

in both cases — as with Gateway Computers at Mission Commons — the major stores would

pump new life into the projects.

Westminster Mayor Nancy Heil says the city was working hard to fill empty stores and dress

up others so they remain attractive to shoppers.

Heil, a veteran of eight years on the council and another eight as mayor, says although the city

can’t finance retail development directly, it can play its part by assisting with such things as

landscaping and other improvements.

All of the city’s retail efforts, which includes plans to brighten up the Westminster Mall, the

city’s single largest retail center, is good for the growing population of Westminster, which is

now nudging six figures.

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