Southeast

As online retail continues to grab market share from traditional bricks-and-mortar shopping malls, retail center owners are looking for ways to create an experience for shoppers. For many, this entails redeveloping portions of their centers to include dining, entertainment and event experiences to build a sense of community to their centers. When retail owners plan these kinds of renovations, they should engage architects and general contractors early and come into the project with a realistic expectation of the costs and challenges that may arise. Some suburbs are using their shopping centers as de facto downtown areas, complete with holiday events, festivals and farmers markets. Graycor Construction has helped three such centers in Richmond to improve their common area space to meet these needs. Richmond Projects At Short Pump Town Center, owner Forest City Enterprises engaged Graycor to demolish and replace a pedestrian bridge and fountain, replace brick pavers, relocate escalators and add a feature elevator, fireplace, pavilion and trellises. This made the center a more modern and attractive place for members of the community to gather, and Graycor was able to use its “live environment” approach to keep the mall and all of its stores open during construction. As a …