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News Article
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Bliss gets its own shopping mall
$100M retail center will be ‘first of its kind’ on a U.S. military post
By Robert Gray
Work is set to begin next month on a $100-million retail center at Fort Bliss that’s the first of its kind: the first-ever upgraded center on a military property, and the first-time ever that private retailers will operate on a military installation.
Named Freedom Crossing at Fort Bliss, the center will include more than 500,000-square-feet of retail space. ServiceStar Development, a private company headquartered in Colorado, is developing the center.
It is partnering with the Army and Air Force Exchange Service, or AAFES, a U.S. Department of Defense agency that provides merchandise and services to soldiers.
According to Mark DeRose, CEO of ServiceStar Development, the center’s private retail component is estimated to generate $5 million in sales tax revenue a year beginning in 2012, when the major growth on Fort Bliss is expected to be complete.
Traditional AAFES operations, such as the commissary and PX, will not pay sales taxes but officials said the private retail operations will pay taxes just as if they were located off post.
The unique nature of the project means that the developer has avoided two major challenges that have put other retail projects on hold – obtaining financing and attracting anchor stores.
The project is fully financed by AAFES and will be anchored by two AAFES stores – a PX, or Post Exchange, and a commissary. It will be located just inside the Cassidy Gate, near the existing PX.
Already leased
Another first is the center’s design, a departure from the Army’s traditional big-box centers.
Joe Giuffreda, vice president of AFFES’s Strategic Planning and Partnerships Directorate, said the new, upgraded design is a response to changes in the private sector where “lifestyle” centers are popular.
The centers are built to be more than a place to shop, “a sort of gathering place – a fun place,” he said. “We see this phenomena going on across America in the retail industry. Our customers deserve something like this.”
Over half of the center is pre-leased. Stores include: Starbucks, Baskin-Robbins, UPS, Class Six Liquor and nutrition store GNC. The center will also include about 15 restaurants and a movie theatre, Giuffreda said, the first-ever to be privately operated on a military base.
The anchors are the 217,420-square-foot PX, comparable to a large Wal-Mart, and an 111,180-square-foot commissary. That leaves about 35 percent of the retail space available for private retailers.
The center is expected to create 800-900 new jobs, Giuffreda said, jobs that may be filled by anyone – soldier and civilian. But the center, as with all AAFES centers, will only be open to shoppers who are authorized. That includes active duty military, guard reserves, retirees and their families.
The project is not funded by tax dollars but by AFFES, which is itself funded by a portion of the earnings generated by its centers. Two-thirds of the earnings generated by Freedom Crossing will support the U.S. Army Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command, or MWR, and the remaining earnings will go to AAFES and the construction of new centers.
“It is a closed loop,” Giuffreda said.
MWR is the Army organization that provides soldiers with things like intramural sports, gyms, libraries and golf courses.
Competition
Rod Vosper, vice president of development for Simon Property Group, owners of Cielo Vista and Sunland Park Malls, said they don’t know enough about the project and which stores are being recruited “to judge whether it will have an impact on existing retail.”
“Cities have a tendency to overbuild,” he added, “but El Paso has been slower to put retail on the ground and that has really worked in its favor.”
DeRose with ServiceStar said the current economic climate does make it difficult to recruit retailers, and that there are many leasing opportunities at the center for local and national retailers.
But Giuffreda pointed out that the massive growth on Bliss means the center won’t lack customers.
“In some regards we are recession proof,” he said. “The Army isn’t cutting back on its soldiers.”
That growth also is the reason that Fort Bliss was chosen as the testing grounds for the new model, Giuffreda said.
By the time the surge of growth at Fort Bliss is complete two years from now, 34,000 soldiers are expected to call Fort Bliss and El Paso their home, according to the latest figures from the Fort Bliss information office.
A groundbreaking ceremony will be held July 17 and the center will open late next year.
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| Dan - posted: 7/19/2009 3:27:00 PM
As a retired service member it gives me tremendous encouragement to know such a great facility is being built for our modern military and their families, (retirees too). We have traveled a great journey since I entered the service in 1966, the support for families, the reality of the "One Army" concept achieved, and now, a first class shopping mall on post-things are looking up folks! In all seriousness, Freedom Crossing represents the very best our military complex and civilian enterprises can offer-can't wait to go shopping. Thank you AAFES and ServiceStar. | | anonymous - posted: 6/30/2009 12:18:45 AM
That is such great news because there needs to be lots to do for the soldiers coming to El Paso. From what I'm learning based on conversations with new soldiers already here, 90% of the new soldiers don't like El Paso and they hate being here so anything helps. I talked to a whole group of soldiers and out of about seven, only one "kinda" liked it here. I know it's not a representative sample of the Ft. Bliss soldier population but nonetheless, anything to make the transition more enjoyable. | |
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