Success Stories In Retail Recruitment



Three Sites, Three Successes
Marion, IN gains millions in retail development using Buxton data

In 2004, an outsider considering the retail future of Marion, Ind., may have concluded that prospects were bleak. After all, the city had just lost another major employer, one of many plant closings in the previous 10 years. And, with Marion being situated in between several larger cities including Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, some people would think that additional retail development in this city of 35,000 people was unnecessary.

That outsider would have been wrong. Just three years later, Marion leaders have announced major retail, employment and housing initiatives that are brightening the future of this city and its residents.
How did it happen?

Soon after Marion’s largest plant closing in 2004, when almost 1,000 people were put out of work, Mayor Wayne Seybold and other Marion leaders jumped headfirst into a quest to regenerate jobs in their city and improve the quality of life for residents. Their first step was to hold a symposium, where local players met and learned from state and national figures in economic development.

Marion leaders realized that one key to their success would be to win the interest of professional retail developers. In pursuing this idea, Marion leaders attended the annual ICSC (International Council of Shopping Centers) conference, where they met a Buxton executive, Joe Fackel. Realizing the value of Buxton’s services, Marion commissioned Buxton to perform its CommunityID assessment.

Buxton provided solid data supporting retail development in three defined areas of the city. Using Buxton’s third-party validation of their city’s retail potential, Marion leaders set out to lure developers by assembling sites for development, sometimes by buying land and other times by purchasing options on property. Marion also created Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts and used the proceeds toward options in areas where they wanted retail growth.

Marion, Ind., map showing the three sites analyzed by Buxton (marked with stars).

Marion leaders searched for the best developers and investors for these projects. Some projects have been completed by local developers, and Marion officials have traveled as far away as Taiwan, South Korea and Japan to talk to investors.
In addition to assembling land for development, Marion made sure developers could easily work with the city. “We tried to cut any extraneous layers of government processes,” says Jay T. Julian, Director of Development Services, City of Marion, Ind. 
Julian says that developers responded favorably to the unbiased and current data from Buxton. “The Buxton data is so much more valuable than just Census numbers, which don’t show the growth that Marion has had in the past two to three years. Buxton gave us material validated by a nonbiased third-party.”

He continued: “While the initial cost of hiring Buxton was difficult at the time, it now seems as if it was a small ‘drop in the bucket’ compared to the millions in investment these projects are generating.  Hiring Buxton and its talented team has now proven to be one of the wisest expenditures we have made in our nearly four years of community leadership.”

All three sites analyzed by Buxton are at the center of major development projects:

University Marketplace will feature a Meijer grocery/merchandise store.

Site 1- South Marion
University Marketplace, a planned mixed-use development designed for retail, residential, hospitality, medical and entertainment, has recruited Meijer, a regional grocery and merchandise store, as an anchor. The 156,544-square-foot store will break ground in spring 2008, with a targeted opening time of spring 2009. The store should bring at least 400, and as many as 500, full- and part-time jobs. When completed, the University Marketplace development will encompass 240 acres.

Site 2 – North Park Mall
This once-declining facility has been purchased by a new owner, who has announced an $8 to $10 million renovation and the addition of a fifth anchor tenant.

Marion Commons will offer retail, commercial and residential space.

Site 3: Interstate 69/Highway 18 Exchange
This will be the site of Marion Commons, a 252-acre project that incorporates retail, entertainment, office, technology-park, restaurant and residential components. It is being developed by Veriana Holdings, Inc. Dispersed throughout the commons in one-, two-, and three-story buildings, retailers and business users will face the project's Main Street and interior roadways. A lushly landscaped Central Plaza with offices, shops, restaurants and a distinctive fountain will help create an intimate gathering place at the heart of the project. Occupying 400,000 square feet of the Commons’ commercial office space will be the new global headquarters for Veriana Networks, its subsidiaries and future businesses, a move that the company projects will create more than 280 technology jobs by 2012. The new jobs will average $41 per hour, about double the current average for jobs in Marion, Julian says.

“It’s not coincidental that the three areas that now have multimillion dollar projects are the three areas that Buxton analyzed and provided independent numbers for,” Julian says.

What does the future hold for Marion? Julian says the announced projects are just the beginning. “We have ordered SCOUT (Buxton’s online marketing system). Now we’re looking for infill areas to develop and we want to fine-tune our retail development efforts.”

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