dredger wrote:threeforone, do you think that the developer might have had that conversation with Macy's as the fourth floor is being developed as floor event/conference space in addition to a fitness center as an ammenity for tenants, including Macy employees?
In that context, Macy has fitted its physical presence to match its desired format of square footage and thus consistency on a national basis. Extra space for events is now just a matter of rental rate where as a lease for the extra space is just another cost whether the space is used or not. So why not pay a little more when or if you decide to use the space versus paying a lease on space that will require maintenance and have very little utilization over the entirety of the year.
Another way to look at, maybe the developer realized where the opporunity lies on the fourth floor. In giving tenants access to the parking garage, temporary space rental and access to a tenant fitness center that brings in a couple of dollar to cover common space maintanence and upkeep.
I'm sure one of those two scenarios is correct. But I think the fourth floor access from the garage could have been used to the store's advantage. Today, for example, customers got free parking there if they spent $50 in store. Why can't Macy's do that everyday? And with the death of Papa Fabarre's and the Saint Louis Room, along with special events like Breakfast with Santa, the downtown Macy's will be much more like its suburban counterparts in more ways than just size.
I'll reserve final judgment until I shop in the renovated space, or until the final renovations are complete, if indeed more renovations are planned. But there are a lot of reasons to be skeptical about Macy's "commitment" to downtown. Five years for a lease isn't long-term in my opinion. The city estimated renovation costs at $5-7 million, yet Macy's will never divulge what they'll spend to renovate and downsize the store. (Imagine that.) The word on the street, at least until January, was that Papa Fabarre's would remain open even if the Saint Louis Room closed, and then it abruptly closed as well and almost 20 people lost their jobs with little if any notice. Finally, another sign came during the last holiday season, as the decorated store windows were fewer in number and much less elaborate than when Macy's revived the tradition after retiring the Famous-Barr nameplate in late 2006.
Don't get me wrong, I think Macy's can still be successful downtown. But lose the restaurants, lose the events, standardize the square footage and floor plans, and it's less of a downtown department store and more like a department store that happens to be downtown. I'll still shop there if I want when I'm in downtown, but I'll no longer make trips for that expressed purpose. Hopefully downtown workers, residents, and tourists will respond well to the changes, because it's obvious Macy's doesn't care all that much about attracting shoppers from other parts of the region since they blithely got rid of the few remaining touches that separated downtown from the other former Famous-Barr locations in Greater St. Louis.
