Colony Place: Field of dreams
by Glenn RittIt’s not quite a corn patch in Iowa transformed into a magical baseball diamond, but it’s the Plymouth version of a field of dreams.
Gary Darman was smart enough (or lucky enough) years ago to identify land that could be developed near the projected new Route 44 highway. Then, final highway plans had to designate a path virtually by his property. After that, he and partner Donald Smith had to imagine the largest open shopping village project in the state – a venture far removed from their other major enterprise, Oak Point in Middleborough, the commonwealth’s largest 55-plus community.
Finally, both Saxon Real Estate partners had to have sufficient risk genes to take the plunge with a 1-million-square-foot retail complex at a time when Newton-based New England Development was building the Shops at Five two exits south on Route 3 and W/S Development was designing Wareham Crossing at the intersections of routes 195 and 495.
Consider too that Independence Mall in Kingston had replaced a J.C. Penney and Bradlees with Best Buy, Linens ‘n Things and Target, increasing mall sales there by 60 percent.
With Target going to the Kingston Mall and Kohl’s anchoring the Shops at Five, Darman and Smith had to secure their own major retail anchor. Enter Wal-Mart, which already had decided to abandon its Cordage Park location for a super-sized site closer to the highway in which they could offer their highly successful grocery store component. It agreed to locate at Colony Place with a 227,000-square-foot store – and then added a 137,000-square-foot Sam’s Club warehouse store to boot.
The one-upmanship hasn’t stopped: Dick’s Sporting Goods versus Sports Authority at Exit 5; a Circuit City versus Best Buy at the mall. Step by step, Smith and Darman convinced key players – beginning with the biggest national brands – to share the risks and rewards of Colony Place.
With 750,000 square feet of retail space now occupied, Smith stands back in the wake of grand opening of the latest phase and ponders the recent past. Route 44 was the catalyst, he explained, and it will be their biggest insurance for the future. “We're at the intersection of two major highways, and we anticipate the draw will just continue to grow,'' he said.
Jumping on the highway
Venturing so aggressively into retail development was not what Smith expected when he first joined Darman to develop Oak Point, a 55-plus retirement community offering detached ranch-style homes. Oak Point’s program was to bring the Florida fun retirement concept to Massachusetts: the community’s real engine is the bustling $7 million clubhouse complex, complete with three pools, two tennis courts, a grand ballroom with performance stage, fitness center and other amenities. Oak Point has averaged more than 100 new homes a year and has become the largest community of its kind in the region.
Once Oak Point was on solid footing, Saxon expanded to a few other retail and residential deals, leveraging the partners’ real estate experience in the Northeast and Florida. But as the partners looked at Darman’s land near Route 3 in Plymouth, they understood they had the opportunity to create something different.
“When the Massachusetts Highway Department announced the construction of Route 44, that launched the concept of a really special retail project,” said Smith. “The land originally was slated to be industrial, but Gary hoped to deliver a higher and better use. He had already rezoned the land for broader commercial development before the highway was announced. He hoped it might go retail, but those hopes went to a whole new level when the highway was redesigned to provide an interchange right at the property.”
Both partners had a wide range of real estate experience, but neither had delivered a shopping center of Colony Place’s scale. The partners went about their new venture with the same philosophy that proved so successful in other projects: invest the extra time and money to surpass the competition, and the customers will follow. “We spent an inordinate amount of time and effort on design and layout, focusing on wide boulevards and landscaped medians. We gave the engineers (Cubellis) a mandate to make the layout and traffic flow work better than the other shopping centers. We told the architects (Cubellis and Carter Burgess) that the aesthetics had to be more impressive as well,” said Smith.
He estimates that Saxon Partners is spending almost $2 million more than they had to on design touches such fountains, architectural features, real stone facades, landscaping elements and even a dramatic bridge that will soon connect two sections of the shopping center. They believe the resulting ambiance will attract and sustain more customers in a competitive market, he emphasized. “We think customers recognize better design and better quality when they see it.”
One of the first and most important decisions the partners made was their choice of a firm to handle the architecture and civil engineering – Cubellis (see related story) – and a top-notch landscape architect – Carol R. Johnson & Associates of Boston. “We went item by item as we interviewed many different companies – and we selected professionals who shared our vision for creating an industry-leading project,” said Smith.
Retail brokerage powerhouse Atlantic Retail from Boston was contracted to solicit interest from potential tenants. “We went to market emphasizing the regional draw based on customers from a half-hour ride in any direction,” said Smith.
Success hinged, however, on securing the anchor stores. Once Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club were in place, the partners set their sights on the next tier of retailers – junior anchors such as Dick’s Sporting Goods and Circuit City. Then, when those stores were in place, “lifestyle retailing” specialists Strategic Retail Advisors of Framingham joined the team to pursue leases with tenants like Talbots, J. Jill, Coldwater Creek, Chico’s and others that help create the shop-and-dine regional attraction.
Colony Place already boasts about 750,000 square feet and permit applications are under way to keep it expanding to a proposed 1.1 million square feet – by far the largest open-air shopping center in the region. In addition, Colony Place’s success has spilled over to adjacent properties where several restaurants and banks are popping up and an independently owned Hampton Inn is already open. The area has even attracted interest for a minor league baseball team; a 28-acre tract directly adjacent to Colony Place is being proposed for a 5,500-seat baseball stadium.
The partners see Colony Place as more than shopping. They want it to be a modern community hub. Marketing Director Deborah Keating has just launched a program of events and activities that will run on a year-round basis, especially around holidays. “We just hosted a fundraiser fashion show for the Boys and Girls Club of Plymouth, which raised over $7,500,” Smith said. This amount is on top of a $25,000 donation that Saxon had previously made to the Boys and Girls Club.
Coming from an investment banking background, Smith views this new chapter in his life with a sense of legacy. “It is very satisfying – and, frankly, fun – to be part of the process of designing a whole new place and then watching it come to life. It’s very different than executing a financial transaction and then having your work product fit into a filing cabinet,” he said.
Nor does the experience end with the first phase of tenancy. “The retailing business is a very dynamic one and shopping centers are living projects. As soon as you finish building for the original tenants, you will find that some of those tenants may not reach expectations, and other tenants will come along with exciting new concepts. You need to be on your toes and constantly think how your center will remain a more vital experience compared to the competition,” said Smith.
Competing with or complementing downtown Plymouth?
With so much retail activity forming around highways in Plymouth County, there has been concern among some of the downtown merchants that shopping and tourism dollars will be siphoned away. Smith voices sensitivity about the issue, but disagrees with those merchants that view it as a zero-sum game. First, Smith notes that stores at Colony Place – from Dick’s Sporting Goods to Talbots and Chico’s – were not going to locate in downtown Plymouth. “For most of our retailers, it is either at centers like Colony Place, or not at all,” he said.
Secondly, Smith acknowledges that Colony Place is designed to attract shoppers, but says his competition is other major retail centers, not downtown Plymouth. “Colony Place’s investments in better design, better roadways and better tenants should help it to draw customers from a very wide area. Do I think that these investments will draw some customers away from places like the Shops at Five? Yes. Do I think that we are directly competing with the types of shops that can thrive in downtown Plymouth? No.”
In fact, Smith hopes that the customers that travel to Plymouth to shop at Colony Place create an opportunity for the downtown area. Smith notes that residents from Saxon’s Oak Point community in Middleborough now shop at Colony Place, and then end up at the local butcher shop or at a waterfront restaurant such as East Bay Grille or Isaac’s. “When you consider that the Colony Place stores were not going to open in downtown Plymouth and that Colony Place is now attracting more people to come to Plymouth, you can see how the two different shopping experiences can be more complementary than competitive.”
In fact, the partners hope to help market downtown Plymouth, Plimoth Plantation and Colony Place as a combined destination so that all three can benefit from more visitors. “Shopping is a major part of all tourism, and Colony Place has a role to play in the whole Plymouth experience. To that end, we are exploring cross-marketing opportunities with attractions like Plimouth Plantation. In fact, our landscape architects are currently designing park features at Colony Place that will highlight local attractions like Plymouth Rock, the Mayflower II, Plimouth Plantation and the downtown museums,” said Smith. “Ideally, people visiting from across the country or across the ocean would be able to hop on the train to Plymouth and then get picked up by trolley to visit downtown Plymouth, the local tourist attractions and Colony Place. It would be tremendous if Plymouth could become a common theme of the historic Boston tourist experience.”
Over time, the partners hope that any remaining critics will agree that a successful Colony Place is a success for the town of Plymouth. “Hopefully, the local business community will recognize that in addition to providing jobs, paying taxes and supporting local charities, we are also bringing new people and more business opportunities to Plymouth – ones that otherwise might not be there.”
With Colony Place’s latest phase opening for the holiday season, Saxon understands that the current economy is at best uncertain. Oil prices are heading toward $100 a barrel; consumer confidence has been slipping and the subprime housing meltdown has had a damaging impact on household income and credit.
Smith said that the current climate would have been daunting had the partners been just starting the Oak Point community now. The credit market for residential construction is difficult, he noted. But Oak Point is now well established (with more than 800 homes already occupied) and so far, the retail development business is “holding up very well,” Smith added. At the same time, he is holding his breath to see if the housing downturn affects retail sales too much before home sales bounce back.
In the meantime, Saxon is eyeing several other projects elsewhere in Massachusetts – though none too far astray from their current expertise and none farther than two hours from their South Shore offices. “We want to keep the company relatively small and the projects relatively local. We have the state’s largest lifestyle community and the state’s largest lifestyle shopping center – but keeping it local leaves us some time for our own lifestyles,” Smith emphasized.
Published in Plymouth County Business January 2008
Glenn Ritt Glenn Ritt is editor and co-publisher of Cape Business Publishing LLC. He is the former publisher of Cape Cod Community Newspapers and editor of The Bergen Record in New Jersey. 
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