STAMFORD, CT-Taubman Centers Inc. will bring a new concept in mall design to its Stamford Town Center. The Bloomfield Hills, MI-based REIT will revamp approximately 160,000 sf at its 22-year-old property, turning a portion of the site into a streetscape with sidewalk shops that lead to its 855,000-sf mall. The multimillion-dollar project, which calls for the demolition of a building formerly leased to Filenes and the construction of 160,000 sf of space for mixed uses, is expected to begin construction next year with completion slated for no later than 2007.

"We view this as an opportunity to take a large building and reconfigure it to give it a lifestyle feel while still maintaining critical mass retail," says Jim Zielinski, director of marketing for Stamford Town Cente. He says plans call for the construction of a grand entrance with both pedestrian and vehicular access along with a mix of storefront retail shops that will "create energy on the street."

Zielinski adds that the concept will blend both the recent lifestyle development trend with a mall environment to give the property a new feeling of excitement. "A lot of developers are leaning to streetscape presentations. This takes it to the next step in providing that streetscape and mall environment in one critical mass."

The firm will unveil the concept at the May 22-25 International Council of Shopping Centers conference in Las Vegas, where it will pitch the idea as a lifestyle development trend to potential tenants. "We have a number of national names we will be in discussion with at the convention," Zielinski says. Although he declined to reveal exactly who the company is targeting in its Las Vegas marketing maneuver, he says the renovated space is expected to be filled by a variety of users, including restaurants and retail vendors. It's the first time Taubman has tapped into the ICSC convention to market space at its Stamford mall. The company's Vegas show will spotlight the concept by highlighting its plans to build an exterior streetscape which will open to the mall on a portion of the Downtown property.