55 acres of retail outlets are coming to Lehi area

LEHI — Fifty-five acres of fashion retail outlets are on their way to Utah County, Traverse Mountain officials announced Wednesday.

It's taken more than a year — and a last-minute change of developers — for the master-planned development to come this far, but Traverse Mountain officials say now they're ready to hit the ground running. It is estimated that the 300,000-square-foot outlet mall, dubbed "The Fashion Outlets at Traverse Mountain," will be completed by fall 2009.

"We could literally pull permits and break ground today," said McKay Christensen, a partner in the Traverse Mountain development. "We expect to pre-lease (the retail space) for a year and start construction in a year. ... That's an aggressive schedule, but we feel confident we can do that."

Christensen said the anticipated $200 million project has been slow in coming because of a previous agreement with national developer Forest City Enterprises. Forest City projected a construction timeline for the Traverse Mountain project of at least five years. But Christensen said an earlier start date was desired, so a different developer, Craig Realty Group, was chosen.

Craig Realty Group has a history of developing multimillion-dollar upscale factory outlet centers, Christensen said.

"We don't have a deal with Forest City, but we're still doing the same thing (that was planned with the developer)," Christensen said. "There's always a chance we could go back to Forest City and resume those negotiations, but right now, that deal is done and we plan on pursuing that phase on our own."

The outlet section will be built next to Cabela's at The Terrace at Traverse Mountain. Because of the outlet center's proximity to Cabela's and I-15, Christensen said he expects the development to bring some 12 million people to the location annually, with revenue of about $250 million.

"Traditionally, outlet malls have been what you would see in the outer reaches and fringes of towns and along major highways," Christensen said. "Now you're finding these outlet malls being built in more metropolitan areas. There's a vacuum in our market in Salt Lake and a hole that needs to be filled for that type of thing. We think this will be a better companion to Cabela's than any other thing we could have planned."

Christensen said he's not exactly sure what stores will come to the development, but typically Craig Reality developments have Polo Ralph Lauren, Nike and Gap stores as anchors. Christensen said he'd like to see elements in the design that would make the development look like an Italian village on the hillside.

More information on the project can be found at the development's Web site, www.traversemountain.com.

Lehi Mayor Howard Johnson said he's looking forward to seeing how the development progresses.

"I think it will be a good thing," Johnson said. "The extent of what it will be and how it will work out, I couldn't tell you. All I can say now is I think it will be a good thing for the neighborhood and for the city. Other than that, the details all have to be worked out, and sometimes the devil is in the details."

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