The development of Tikahtnu Commons continued with the opening of large retail stores Kohl’s and Lowe’s on April 1. The two national retail chains join Target at the Northeast Anchorage retail and entertainment center being developed by CIRI and partner Browman Development Co., and are some of the many stores and shops that will be opening throughout 2009 and 2010.
“These recent openings, including the new-to-Alaska Kohl’s, demonstrate the size and quality of the Tikahtnu Commons development,” said Greg Jones, CIRI vice president of real estate. “They also show the importance of Browman’s contribution, which is leasing and marketing this center. That’s what Browman does best, and it shows.”
Lowe’s is one of the largest home improvement retail chains in the world, operating more than 1,650 stores in the U.S. and Canada. Its 140,000-squarefoot store at Tikahnu Commons is their sixth store in Alaska.
Kohl’s is a national department store chain with 1,022 stores in 49 states. Its 90,000 square-foot store at Tikahtnu Commons is a new entrant to the Alaska retail market.
BestBuy signed a tenant-executed building lease for a 30,000-square-foot store at Tikahtnu Commons in early 2009. BestBuy is a multinational retailer of technology and entertainment products with more than 900 domestic stores. The Best Buy store, which will be located next to Target, is under construction and plans to open the first week of June. Its Tikahtnu Commons store will be its second in Alaska.
A 52,000-square-foot Sports Authority store is under construction at Tikahtnu Commons, and plans to open the second week of May. Sports Authority operates more than 450 sporting goods stores in 45 states, including one completed store and three under construction in Alaska.
PetSmart Inc. recently signed a letter of intent to lease a 30,000-square-foot store at Tikahtnu Commons. PetSmart is the world’s largest pet services retailer, operating more than 1,100 pet stores and 132 in-store PetsHotels in the U.S. and Canada. The store will include PetsHotels, Alaska’s first pet spa and hotel. PetSmart intends to begin construction this summer, with the opening anticipated in early 2010.
The smaller shop and restaurant pads at Tikahtnu Commons are about 80-percent leased. Signed tenants include IHOP, Great Clips, GNC, Sally Beauty, GCI, Subway, Marble Slab Ice Cream, Gamestop and AT&T. Fruitland Fresh has already opened.
CIRI and Browman are in the final stages of negotiating the lease for a 17- screen Regal Cinemas theater complex at Tikahtnu Commons. Feasibility studies for a hotel at the retail center are also being conducted.
“We have a number of other retailers we’re talking with,” said Jones. “We should see another surge in interest in 2010 from the projected recovery of the economy and traffic from the theater and anchors.”
