Mall at UTC developer making news in Vegas

LAS VEGAS--The developer of the Mall at University Town Center received accolades Sunday for its unique mall in Salt Lake City.

The International Council of Shopping Centers announced that City Creek Center received the ICSC VIVA (Vision, Innovation, Value, Achievement) Best-of-the-Best Award winner in the Sustainable Design/Development category for 2014. The developer of the mall, Taubman Centers of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., is also developing the Mall at UTC in University Park, expected to open Oct. 16.

Recognition for the project was given to: City Creek Reserve, Development Company; The Taubman Center, Owner; Callison, Design Architect; and Hobbs & Black Associates, Inc, Production/ Executive Architect.

The winners were announced during the VIVA Best-of-the-Best Awards ceremony during RECon, ICSC’s global retail real estate convention in Las Vegas. The VIVA Best-of-the-Best Awards honor and recognize the most outstanding examples of shopping center design and development, sustainability, marketing, and community service worldwide.

The two-story mall, which opened in 2012, features a retractable roof plus 500 condos/apartments and four levels of underground parking in a downtown setting and was developed in partnership with the Church of Jesus Chris of Latter-day Saints.

“City Creek is an outstanding example of visionary architectural achievement in sustainability and innovative design,” said Michael P. Kercheval, president and CEO, ICSC. “As the industry continues its positive momentum, we will begin to see further developments in the U.S., and City Creek has set the bar for what that development will look like,” said Kercheval.

The City Creek marked the first indoor mall (kind of) to open in the U.S. since 2006 and Taubman will open the first truly indoor mall this year with Mall at UTC since 2006 as well when the Mall at Turtle Creek opened in Arkansas.

It will be worth watching to see if Taubman's Mall at UTC could win the company another award next year. The Mall at UTC's ceiling is essentially a spine featuring louvered glass and blue/purple lights that will shine into the sky while a glass elevator and open feel will give the University Park mall a cosmopolitan feel.

City Creek is a LEED certified center with streetscapes, public areas and green space, which the Mall at UTC is striving to do with its design.

Fun with fake stores at new Mall at University Town Center

Mall at University Town Center's developer Taubman Centers is in the teasing business in their video renderings of the new mall.

Of course, the video animation folks had to be inventive so as not tospill all the secrets of what's coming. You will see Saks Fifth Avenue, Dillard's and Macy's in their appropriate places as the videos soars underneath the glass archway ceilings.

The video was released via Taubman on YouTube in May 2013, but somehow was buried among other renderings released by animation company Max Wave Media that featured a fly-over of the mall and Nathan Benderson Park last summer. Another rendering video previously released also showed something mighty close to a Bass Pro Shop, but that is more likely to be built on one of the Benderson-developed parcels east of the mall next to Interstate 75.

We only know of a few confirmed stores now including American Eagle Outfitters, Brooks Brothers, Oil & Vinegar and Smoothie King in addition to restaurants BRIO Tuscan Grille, Capital Grille, Cheesecake Factory, Kona Grill and Seasons 52.

Sure, it's likely that the Apple Store is coming, too, but we're not 100 percent on that yet.

In the meantime, check out the fake names of stores the animators decided to put in the video to give a flavor of the type of mall to open Oct. 16. You might recognize a funny knock-off name if you shopped on a sidewalk stand in New York or Miami.

I'll write down what my best guess for the actual retailers in parenthesis

Aux Bon Gourmet (Au Bon Pain though it would make sense for a Corner Bakery Cafe)
Design Studio
Mocha Cafe (Starbucks located underneath escalators)
Channel (Chanel)
Asagio
ALBO (ALDO)
Gantier (likely a perfume store)
The Bar
CASAbalance
Cap (Gap)
Porteous
Cartier
Fashion Street (Font looks like a Charlotte Ruse)
NHN
Guchi (Gucci)
Maxim
Figment
JJ Jewelers
Islands
Omar Viducci (Gianni Versace)

Colleagues in the newsroom remarked how much the mall looked like International Plaza, another Taubman-owned mall. To me, the cafe and table area by the glass elevators resembles Countryside Mall in Clearwater, without the ice rink, and feels a bit like the Mall in Columbia (Md.) that features similar stores on two levels. That mall is managed by the Howard Hughes Corp. and General Growth Properties.

It might be easier to watch the video and pair the names with the fonts on the signs if you're trying to guess what's coming. Keep in mind there are supposed to be more than 100 stores and half of them new to the Sarasota-Bradenton market. Many of the animated storefronts lacked names and some were duplicated.

What's your best guess to the stores inside the Mall at UTC? Share your guesses below.

Bealls expands Leoma Lovegrove line

 The Leoma Lovegrove line is expanding at Bealls starting this month. Photos provided

I'm not an expert in ladies fashion, and barely passable for men's fashion, but I acknowledge that people follow Leoma Lovegrove and her Florida art.

So with that, Bealls Department Store, headquartered in Bradenton, announced that it is expanding the impressionist-expressionist painter's splashy, kitschy artwork into more products. You'll see her bright designs on Tervis tumblers, pillows, beach towels, koozies, handbags, children's apparel, luggage, and the list seems to go on.

The initial wave of merchandise will arrive in stores this month and the full line will come in January.

"Earlier this year we introduced the Leoma Lovegrove collection in our Ladies department with an assortment of fashion tops. Our customers responded with overwhelming enthusiasm, and we listened," said Lorna Nagler, president of Bealls in a in a news release.

Lovegrove lives on Matlatcha Island, a tiny piece of land between Pine Island and Cape Coral in Lee County and also likes to paint local life plus the local cat Fred, according to her clothing labels.

A sample shirt was sent to the Herald in a press skit, showing that the shirt retails for $36, is 100 percent polyester (it feels soft), and made in China. This particular shirt features flamingos with a sign that says "You've been Flocked." Ok, then.

I had reporter Janey Tate model the sample, and we found that because of the printing process on the shirt, as soon as the material is stretched, you will see white distressed lines that split the artwork. That might not be desirable for some shoppers while others will seek out that design.

For more information, visit www.leomalovegrove.com and www.beallsflorida.com.