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Alderwood Mall
Ongoing Renovations Expand Lynnwood
Shopping Center
by Sheila Bacon
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The Terraces - several
new restaurants and a new plaza - are one part of a
large renovation at the Alderwood Mall.
Image courtesy of Callison
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The site map on the wall in Joe Walker's job trailer can
best be described as a giant jigsaw puzzle. The project manager
for Bayley Construction's Alderwood Mall renovation project
points to the numbered and color-coded modules frequently
as the easiest way to describe the vast scope of work the
general contractor is performing at the Lynnwood, Wash., shopping
mall.
At work on the project since April 2002, the Bayley crew
and its subcontractors still have close to another year at
the site before the job can be called complete. Keeping to
strict schedules with unmovable end dates has been the biggest
challenge for the crew, said project engineer Eric Ulfwengren,
which is tackling jobs ranging from relocating underground
utilities to building new retail additions that total 270,000
sq. ft. for 70 new retailers.
One of the new additions that will perhaps be the most noticeable
change to the 24-year old shopping mall is The Village. This
187,000-sq.-ft. addition will be located on the mall's north
side and will feature 40 new tenants in seven blocks of open
air buildings, similar in feel to Redmond Town Center in Redmond,
Wash., or Seattle's University Village.
"Despite what people say about the weather, people like
to be outside," said Douglas Schoemaker, associate principal
with Seattle design firm Callison.
Retailers include Pottery Barn, Williams-Sonoma, R.E.I.,
Coldwater Creek and Gene Juarez Salon and Spa.
Crews are building The Village in sections, starting with
site work on the project's east end, then working towards
the site of the recently demolished old Nordstrom building,
all while keeping the mall's north entrance open. Tenants
will begin moving into The Village this spring, with final
completion expected by October.
On the opposite side of the mall, the "Terraces"
area will feature several restaurants and a new plaza with
patterned concrete. Large, retractable glass doors will open
to the 24,000-sq.-ft. Terraces, which will feature an open-air
garden plaza with boutique shops and restaurants, including
Claim Jumper, McGrath's Fish House and Starbuck's Coffee.
Bayley crews added a road and relocated a stormwater detention
system to make way for a new 16-screen, 80,000-sq.-ft. Loews
Cineplex movie theater.
The architect's vision for the retail additions to the mall
was to present the public with something a little eclectic,
said Schoemaker. To pique shoppers' interest, Callison made
each added building different from the other.
"We didn't want a monotonous look," said Schoemaker.
"We wanted people to be able to explore."
Designers also sought to turn the mall "outward,"
said Schoemaker. While all the mall's department stores have
a unique look, not much of the mall itself is exposed. The
new design brings an identity to a part of the shopping center
that hadn't been brought out before.
Crews finished the second of two new three-level parking
structures last November, which, combined, offer shoppers
more than 1,800 parking spaces.
Inside the mall, Bayley has been at work since last February
adding new tile accents to the main mall corridors, adding
aesthetic ceiling accents, renovating the restrooms and upgrading
the mall's fire alarms and life safety systems. Crews avoided
shoppers during construction by working after the mall closed.
Shifts started at 9:30 p.m. and ended at 8 a.m. Only the early
morning mall walkers' schedules were affected slightly by
the renovation work.
Built in 1979, a 1995 remodel added a food court to the
mall, said Tamera Wachter, senior marketing director for General
Growth Properties Inc., the mall's Chicago-based owner. This
project, however, is by far the mall's largest renovation
to date.
"It will be a brand new mall when it's finished,"
Wachter said.
While General Growth Properties and Bayley Construction representatives
both declined to give the construction cost or project cost
of the renovation, outside media coverage has estimated the
project cost at $50 million to $100 million.
Keeping vehicle and pedestrian traffic flowing relatively
smoothly amidst a job that affects the mall from all angles
has been a challenge, said Bayley's Walker.
"We're not eliminating the traffic and confusion,"
he said. "We're just keeping it to a minimum."
Crews will be finished with the mall's renovation in time
for a grand opening in November.
Alderwood Mall: Renovation at a
Glance
Project Team:
Owner:
General Growth Properties
General Contractor: Bayley
Construction
Architect: Callison
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