Laserfiche WebLink
South Bend Redevelopment Commission <br />Regular Meeting - July 20, 1979 <br />6. NEW BUSINESS (continued) <br />i. continued... <br />Ms. uburn: Was Rouse competing with Gruen for the <br />development and design of Century Mall? Why was <br />Gruei chosen over Rouse? <br />Mr. Alison: Rouse's reputation for doing shopping <br />cent rs is not so much from the design standpoint, <br />but rom the market standpoint. They know how to get <br />peop a into the stores, and how to have the merchants <br />make money. Part of the concern at this point, in <br />putting the project together, is to assure that it <br />func ions as a component within a larger downtown. <br />At 1 ast initially it requires more of an architect's <br />kind of services. What will likely happen is that <br />Grue will take off on Rouse's concept plan, and will <br />refl ct much of that, but they will also look at the <br />mall project from a physical development standpoint, <br />and o a degree, utilize Rouse's market information <br />to d termine what site uses. <br />Ms. uburn: I have had the opportunity to read the <br />market feasibility study completed by the Rouse <br />Corporation, and from what I have said in Redevelop- <br />ment Commission meetings before, I support what they <br />developed, in that there has to be some kind of <br />Jiff rent, local, specialty shops in this project. I <br />thin the cost configuration is very important. <br />Mr. imtz: This question was directed to Mr. Molinaro, <br />President of the Rouse Corporation, at our last meeting <br />and ie mentioned that whoever has it will rent it as <br />chew as they possibly can, but the rental figure today <br />is b sed on "how much do you have in it ", and he admitted <br />that someone starting out on a shoestring may not be able <br />to a ford the rent. <br />Ms. uburn: If they are not going to be able to allow <br />peop a to rent the space starting out with limited <br />budg ts, can we determine some alternative financing <br />mech nism that will not automatically shut out local <br />peop e, who do not have a lot of capital consignments <br />behi d them? <br />Mr. 711 ison: What Rouse Corporation has done before is <br />set ip a merchant on a cart, in what would be a public area <br />of a mall. What their experience has been is that some <br />mere ants who have new products, and have a chance to test <br />them out, gain confidence, and eventually move into a store. <br />-10- <br />