Saturday, April 21, 2007
One retailer said the move will give his store a major-market look.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
CANFIELD -- Work on the retail stores at Westford Lifestyle Community is about to begin.
Construction is set to begin in May on a Panera restaurant, and a new Smith & amp; Co. jewelry store is slated to start going up this summer.
This retail section is the latest part of 400-acre development along U.S. Route 224 in between Raccoon Road and the Ohio Turnpike. It already includes homes, condominiums, professional and medical offices, fast-food restaurants and a golf course.
More is to come.
Negotiations are under way to bring a hotel and a banquet center to the property, said Chuck Whitman, president of CTW Development of Boardman. He expects construction of the banquet center to begin this fall, and work on the hotel to start next year.
Also planned are a 100-unit assisted living center and a seven-story condo building overlooking the golf course.
"The interest has been extremely strong," Whitman said.
Tim Smith is one business owner who's enthusiastic about CTW's concept to create a large, multiuse development. The owner of Smith & amp; Co. is moving his jewelry store from the Creekside Plaza in Boardman to the new development.
"This will provide a major-market look for our store," he said.
The retail part of the development will feature architecture with the same theme throughout. Exteriors will be made of glass, stone and brick.
Identifying traits
Smith said, however, that each store entry will be identified with a change in materials or awnings. "It will more of an upscale streetscape instead of a conventional plaza."
His store will be among those near U.S. Route 224.
The 200,000-square-foot retail section also will include a horseshoe-shaped section for larger stores that would sit farther back. Whitman said it will take about two more years to complete the retail section.
Smith said the move should help his store because it will provide more visibility.
The new location will be closer to U.S. Route 224 and will have a direct view of the street. The current store sits behind a restaurant and ice cream stand that were built at the front of the plaza parking lot.
The new store will be about 700 square feet larger than the current 2,400-square-foot store. It is to be completed in the spring of 2008.
Hardships for others
As Smith expands, other jewelers have fallen on hard times recently. A half dozen jewelry stores have closed within a five-mile radius of his store in the past five years.
The local jewelry business has gone under a transformation in recent years as the children of longtime jewelers took over and faced increased competition from national retailers, he said.
Some that haven't succeeded either tried to compete with chain stores and failed or didn't find a business strategy that would set them apart, Smith said. His store focuses on being a designer jeweler that provides items that won't be found at other local stores, he said.
Smith founded his company in 1989 when he bought Menaldi Jewelers in the Boardman Plaza. He previously worked for 17 years for his father at Daniel E. Smith Jewelers in Salem. His father retired and closed his store in 1993.
As work on the retail section begins, other construction continues. Whitman said another office building is going up now and it is about 75 percent leased.
Not counting the seven-story condo building that will have 64 units, Westford will have 250 single-family homes, 78 condos and 47 villa homes. Whitman said more than half of the condos and villas have been sold.
The single-family home lots sell for between 60,000 and 130,000.
shilling@vindy.com