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Originally Posted by ericm2031
Okay...first of all, Roseville does give Westfield a yearly subsidy of about $5 million per year (dependent on sales) and Westfield is investing $240 million total.
Although Target may not seem like a destination retailer, malls across the country are luring in Target because all of the smaller shops are requesting them specifically. Look at Westfield Topanga in LA. It has a Target, Nordstrom, Sears, Macy's, and is getting a Neiman Marcus. It also has stores such as Burberry. So Target seems to fit in well with luxury retail. Target is good because it brings in more traffic to the mall, which will then turn into sales in the existing stores and for new ones that will come with the addition. Like mentioned above, they need better sales from the mall in order to market it to potential tenants. So, it needs a renovation and a Target and the other improvements proposed, which will help give it a MINOR lift to a more acceptable level to pave the way for future changes.
And, just in case you were wondering why they do seem to do more with Roseville, besides the subsidy situation, is because the city doesn't seem to reject and criticise everything they do like what is being done on this thread and others. They never get any public support and city support. The city never works with them except tells them that they need to fix it. Roseville works with them along the way and helps Westfield improve their plan and it works out great and gives them a very close relationship.
Lastly, being in an urban setting, the cost of development is so much higher that they need something big that will offset the costs of the development. They need something big like a Target that will help pay for the renovation. They can't just pour money into it without a guaranteed return on investment.
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Do you work for Westfield? Your brother?
You make valid points. Targets are great traffic generators that then can be built upon and perhaps this is westfied's plan.
However, your summary of westfield’s relations with the city is just as subjective as some of my loudest rants on this.
But, when westfield took over DTP in the early 90s (I believe) after a huge expenditure to renovate by the previous owners, it was a thriving mall with a decent shop mix. Since they've taken over - they have convinced city leaders to stop any real competing retail proposal (as inappropriate as some (Mills) may have been) all the while DTP has turned into an embarrassing dump.
Plenty of blame to go around, but they are the owners and the ultimate responsibility is theirs. They now have no reason to do make DTP anything other than an afterthought to Roseville. Until that dynamic changes, we will not see downtown as the regional commercial center many of us would prefer.