International Conference of Shopping Centers

International Conference of Shopping Centers

Written by Shannon Colletti and Christi Covington Saturday, 07 July 2007

Shopping for more shopping in Las Vegas

Every year the International Council of Shopping Centers attracts tens of thousands of business people to its spring convention in Las Vegas. ICSC is the global trade association of the shopping center industry and works to advance its development.

In May, Charles Simon, director of the Pflugerville Community Development Corporation, along with PCDC and City of Pflugerville staff, attended the convention.

“Our goal was to continue to provide information about Pflugerville, the opportunities available for developers and retailers and to support the developments already here by providing information to their prospective tenants,” Simon said.

In his own words, Simon describes the action at Vegas’ seventh-largest annual convention.

Sunday

We kicked off the convention by attending orientation. With more than 50,000 attendees and two million sq. ft. of space to cover, things can be overwhelming if you don’t know what to expect. The first rule of thumb at ICSC is to wear comfortable shoes.

 We then spent the afternoon at the trade expo, an exhibit hall containing small booths of vendors, shopping center developers/owners and municipalities.

Our main goal was to get information on features that could be incorporated into shopping center design.

The most beneficial information we gained at the trade expo involved Christmas decorations, online business databases, retail leakage studies, street and park décor and town clocks.

 Sunday evening, because of a scheduling conflict, we were forced to break another ICSC rule — do not eat on your own. After all, the convention is all about networking.

 Monday

The leasing mall, where all the development deals occur, opened in the morning with a flurry of activity. The booths here differed greatly from those at the trade expo.

Most were several hundred square feet, well-decorated, well-staffed and buzzing with excitement.

We felt prepared for the several appointments we had scheduled that day, which supports the last ICSC rule — set up meetings before you get to the conference.

Our first one was with NewQuest Properties, which is developing the Stone Hill Town Center at the southwest corner of Toll 45 and Toll 130. We spoke primarily about the center’s status and additional plans for development in Pflugerville.

We also had very good meetings with a fuel and convenience store, mobile phone store and office/retail developer, among others.

 Tuesday

We provided information about Pflugerville to a leasing agent representing several different retailers.

One interesting discussion centered on the Pflugerville Parkway intersection, which has the highest projected traffic counts along the entire stretch of Toll 130 in the year 2025.

We discovered a theater company whose demographics matched perfectly with Pflugerville. We also had the pleasure of encountering Greenview Development, the developer of Pfluger Crossing, at the intersection of Pflugerville Parkway and FM 685.

Wednesday

By the last day of the convention, activity had slowed down considerably.

We are pleased that the ICSC convention was another productive, successful trip. We were received much better than in previous years, had more meetings and felt more people were familiar with Pflugerville than ever before.

Many potential retailers see it as a desirable market. We look forward to seeing how much further Pflugerville will have come by next year.

For more information, visit www.icsc.org