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PALM BEACH GARDENS, FL-On March 10, an addition called the Nordstrom Wing opens at the Forbes Co.'s 1.4-million-sf Gardens Mall on PGA Boulevard. Joining the 144,000-sf Nordstrom anchor in the wing are six new tenants in an aggregate of 30,000 sf of inline retail. The mall's existing anchors are Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale's, Macy's and Sears, and the center also includes more than 160 specialty shops and restaurants.

The retailers joining Nordstrom are: J. Crew, Cole Haan, the first Janie and Jack unit in Palm Beach County, a combination Pottery Barn Kids and Pottery Barn Baby, Williams-Sonoma and Bose. J. Crew introduces a new prototype that provides separate entrances to its men's and women's collections. It is also adding products and services, designed especially for this location. "Palm Beach is our customers' playground," says Jeff Pfeifle, president. Among the specialties is a "PB Survival Kit," a beach bag containing what Pfeifle calls "Palm Beach essentials--flip-flops, a swim suit and sun hat," designed as a welcome bag for area residents to give to their houseguests. Taking a page from a much-touted Nordstrom service, J. Crew is also providing complimentary delivery service to people staying in area hotels.

Rental rates are undisclosed. According to retail reports from several Palm Beach County brokerage firms, this submarket is the most active in the county. Although the average asking retail rent rate is in the mid-$30s per sf, on condition of anonymity, a retail specialist tells GlobeSt.com, rates in this wing and at other nearby new developments "reach above $65 per sf." The retail vacancy in the submarket "is below 5%," he adds.

At least six major retail projects, aggregating in excess of 750,000 sf, are being delivered in the Palm Beach Gardens/North Palm Beach submarket this year. The largest is Menin Development's Downtown at the Gardens. Some of the others are retail components of mixed-use developments.

` Seattle-based Nordstrom has opened six units in Florida within five years. In fall 2007, it will open a unit similar in size to this one in Aventura Mall and a significantly smaller, 80,000-sf unit, at Waterside Shops at Pelican Bay in Naples, which will mark its entry to the state's Southwest Coast. Springfield, MI-based Forbes is the managing member of the 260,000-sf Waterside Shops in which Taubman Centers also has an ownership stake.

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Nordstrom's 174,000-SF Luxury Wing Opens at Gardens Mall

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