PHOENIX-An East Coast retailer has lighted a 148,750-sf anchor spot, emptied six years ago by the Texas-based JCPenney Co. in the Desert Sky Mall. The newly opened store is the chain's first west of the Nebraska line.

The privately held Steve & Barry's University Sportswear, based in Great Neck, NY, secured the location with a seven-year lease with a seven-year option and received a standard tenant finish-out allowance, says Tim Gibbons, regional vice president for the Macerich Co., owner of the one-million-sf mall at 7611 W. Thomas Rd. in Phoenix.

Gibbons, who's not discussing the financial details to the lease, says the average rent is $24 per sf in Desert Sky Mall.

The Desert Sky Mall, situated in the city's southwest quadrant, is a "20-plus"-year-old development built by Phoenix's Westcor Realty, now part of the Santa Monica, CA-based Macerich. Steve & Barry's chose the mall location because of the area's demographics, Gibbons says. "It's a lower-middle-class demographic. People around there are concerned with price points and they are a lower price-point apparel chain," he explains.

Gibbons says JCPenney vacated the anchor space six years ago, but no other retailer has needed quite that much space. "There is a lot of big-box development all around and there were other opportunities for people," he says. Steve & Barry's, however, was specifically searching for an empty department store site as part of its expansion plans into the Phoenix area, he says. The chain historically has located in university towns, but is now "looking at empty department stores throughout the country" for a new mega-store format, according to Gibbons.