How to mitigate the impact of big box stores
New Urban News Article with images, 7/1/2008
Belmar, an urban center in Colorado, offers cutting-edge ideas for incorporating large retailers into a mixed-use environment.
There are many ways to integrate large-format retail stores into a pedestrian-oriented environment. The choice depends on the budget and the unique circumstances of each main street or urban center. Belmar, a new urbanist grayfield development in Lakewood, Colorado, employs four strategies. A downtown that is being built on the site of a former regional mall, Belmar incorporates a Dick’s Sporting Goods of 80,000 square feet, a 65,000 sq. ft. Whole Foods, and a 64,000 sq. ft., 16-screen, multiplex theater. Belmar also includes a series of “mid-box” retailers like DSW, Pier 1, Linens ’n Things, and Party America. These large retail/entertainment uses fit into a downtown that will eventually have 1,400 residential units, offices, civic uses, a hotel, and scores of small shops and eateries.
Big box stores in suburbia are detrimental to walkability and human-scale environments because they come with large blank walls, are built with cheap materials, produce unwieldy blocks, require large surface parking areas, and often demand sizable loading facilities. The developer, Continuum Partners of Denver, dealt with each issue in a creative way. This article examines strategies, issues, and solutions related to large blocks, liner buildings, and parking.
