Venerable Trolley Square, Salt Lake City's answer to Denver's Larimer Square and San Francisco's Ghirardelli Square, is celebrating its 22nd birthday as a "festival marketplace" this month with a new ownership entity, a dozen new retail tenants, and other new stores scheduled to open over the next year.
And, yes, a hotel at the site remains a long-term possibility for the center at 700 East and 600 South. More importantly, businesses already at Trolley Square are doing well, said Jeff Machin, the mall's general manager."When compared to same-store sales in 1995, the numbers show business is very good at Trolley Square," said Machin. "The best growth is in women's ready-to-wear, restaurants and family apparel." He said some Trolley businesses have enjoyed sales increases this year of up to 36 percent.
The new owner of the square is Simon DeBartolo Group, a company formed from the merger last month of Simon Property Group (which had owned the property since 1986), based in Indianapolis, Ind., with DeBartolo Realty Corp., based in Youngstown, Ohio.
According to Simon DeBartolo spokeswoman Billie Scott, the combined company is now the largest publicly traded real estate firm in North America. The merger was a $3 billion transaction but debt and equity of the two companies totals some $7.5 billion.
DeBartolo Realty is part of the holdings of the well-known DeBartolo family that owns the San Francisco 49ers National Football League franchise, but the ownership of the football team was not included in the merger.
The headquarters of Simon DeBartolo Group will remain in Indianapolis, where chief executive officer David Simon and president Richard Sokolov are based, but a "sizable presence" will remain in Youngstown, said Scott.
What does the merger mean to Trolley Square?
"I don't know that the shoppers will feel any difference, but it opens us up to an even larger network of retailers which could affect the tenant mix at Trolley Square," said Scott. "But, then, the mix is pretty strong there already."
The new company owns 184 retail properties, including 112 regional shopping centers, (Simon manages but does not own the mammoth Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn.), 66 community shopping centers and six specialty shopping centers, of which Trolley Square is one.
Based on the annual reports of the two companies in 1995, the new merged entity would have had earnings last year of $600 million.
But that figure will be eclipsed this year. "We are going to grow this new company," Scott asserted. "There are several projects under way right now, through redevelopment of existing properties and through additional acquisitions."
Trolley Square's growth will be more modest, said Machin, a former manager of Cottonwood Mall who came to Trolley a year ago. With 68 tenants currently in the square, room for new stores is limited.
"We have a couple (of store vacancies) currently under negotiation," said Machin, "but basically that's all we have right now. We've had a lot of new stores open this year."
Although sales figures are closely guarded secrets, Machin did allow that overall sales of the mall's stores were up 7 percent through July over the same seven months last year.
New stores at Trolley this year include an eclectic mix of retailers ranging from Charlie Hafen's custom jewelry, Wooden Dog arts cafe and theater complex, La Mission Imports, Bastidas Imports, Exsqueeze Me? eatery, Gothique stationery store, and Zia Gallery, among others.
Carrying the main load for the square, however, are such long-term tenants as The Chalk Garden, Green Street, The Epicurious Group (E.I.B.O.s, The Pub/Desert Edge, Ferrantelli), Brookstone, The Old Spaghetti Factory and others, which together draw a million people annually to Trolley Square, a quarter of them tourists.
In the 10 years that Trolley Square was owned by the Simon group, the mall has been given a major facelift, including new footbridges, walkways and escalators and an enlarged amphitheater on the south side where local entertainers and artists perform weekends.
A food court added on the second level was unsuccessful, as management found that most Trolley diners prefer a "sit down" experience. That space is now used for a video arcade, but that hasn't been the answer, either. "We like the arcade," said Machin, "but it probably takes too much room. There's been some discussion about making a change there."
The mix of tenants has been transformed under Simon's management with the addition of several national retailers, including Banana Republic, Brookstone, Talbots, Williams-Sonoma, Laura Ashley, The Gap and The Limited.
Still missing at Trolley Square, though, is a traditional "anchor" tenant, a large department store that is all things to all people. Machin says that's no accident; a festival marketplace like Trolley Square is its own anchor, he says, as are the specialty shops.
"We look at stores like The Chalk Garden as our anchors," said Machin. "Along with the Pub, Old Spaghetti Factory, Clog Corner, Basket Loft . . . We're different from a regional shopping center; people come here for different reasons.
And though Trolley is a "mature" center, Machin says there remain some surprises in the future.
"We still have places to go. We're currently looking at some national retailers that don't currently exist in this market but I'm not at the point yet where I can talk about it.
"There are always opportunities for growth and change and we are always fine tuning. Our customers want to see new stores, and if you don't add them you get old and stagnant. That doesn't equate with Trolley Square. If anything, we are trying to enhance the festive marketplace atmosphere by adding some entertainment, some additional retail and maybe some more restaurants."
And what about the continuing rumors of a hotel at the site? "A hotel would be of great use to Trolley Square," agreed Machin. "It's something we are still considering but there's nothing I can tell you right now."
A lack of adequate parking for shoppers has always been a sore point at Trolley but Machin insists it's a bum rap.
"On Friday and Saturday it gets a little tight but we have plenty of parking - enough for 1,300 cars - and it's all free."