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Page 2 of 2 bistro, sandwich shop and wine bar. These eateries cater to time-crunched consumers wanting mare than typical fast-food. Sit- down restaurants like Chili's and Applebee's are retooling and adapting to compete by quickening up service, changing menus and adding curbside delivery. New Retailers, Restaurants Looking at Metro National retailers, attracted to the metro's diverse economy, are exploring locations. New players include outdoor gear and apparel retailer North Face, Cosi, LA Fitness, Boston Pizza, Gimme Sum and Raising Cane Chicken Fingers. The International Council of Shopping Centers (IC9C) recently ranked the Twin Cities as the second-most promising U.S. market for retail developers, considering GLA per capita, projected yearly population and income growth. More Users Buying Land Traditionally, retail developers take down large tractr of land and do multiple leases with multiple retailers or sell parcels to retailers. However, general merchandise and home improvement retailers are self-developing land. Tale of Two Cities Two metro-area lifestyle centers are open-Shoppes at Arbor Lakes in Maple Grove and Woodbury Lakes in Woodbury. While Arbor Lakes appears to be thriving, vacancy remains at Woodbury Lakes. One issue may be that the Woodbury trade market is not as large and does not generate as much daytime traffic as Maple Grove. (Developers Opus and Red Development recently sold Woodbury Lakes for $99 million to Cornerstone.) Meanwhile, developers continue to look for opportunities to build new lifestyle renters. One is proposed in st. Louis Park, and there's discussion of one in Chanhassen. The Outlook Construction and absorption will continue to be strong with 2 million square feet under construction-much of it pre-leased-and 3.7 million square feet planned. Community centers will continue to fuel the growth. Attracted to the metro's diverse economy, national retailers and restaurants will continue to explore sites. Retailers will continue to recycle inner-ring sites to gain access to high-density, sought-after markets. They also will continue to face challenges in redeveloping this real estate. Regional malls will continue to redefine and reinvent themselves to draw shoppers-whether that means adding lifestyle components or repositioning themselves by adding nontraditional tenants. Lifestyle centers will continue to be the sought-after development and investment option as more locations are explored. Increasing land and construction costs and more stringent city requirementr may stall some future retail development. Print this Page Close Window http://outlook.uproperties.com/PagePrinter.aspx?InstanceID=340d9a3e-e688-4fc1-b5e1-472... 8/8/2006