Careful scheduling and design flexibility are paramount as Indianapolis-based Duke Construction races to meet an Oct. 7 grand-opening date on the $70 million, 420,000-sq.-ft. Algonquin Commons northwest of Chicago.

The project broke in October. It was designed by Legat Architects of Waukegan, Ill., as a lifestyle center, a shopping center built on the model of an outdoor village center, rather than an enclosed shopping mall.

Petter Berntzen, senior vice president for Duke in Lisle, Ill., said crews must begin turning over raw retail space to tenants in late summer so that build-outs can be completed in time for the October opening. The autumn opening positions retailers to take advantage of the critical holiday shopping season.

Workers needed to get enough sitework done between October and the onset of winter to allow construction of buildings through the winter months, Berntzen said.

"We had people working on foundations and had started some of the superstructure in some areas while we were doing sitework and utilities," he said. "It is such a large project to do in such a short period that we are doing everything at once."

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Tenants' Customized Space

One other fly in the construction ointment: The center will be occupied by up to 80 different tenants, each with customized space.

"At the time you start one of these, you don't know who all the tenants are," Berntzen said. "As they get signed up, we have to tailor 80 different spaces to their different requirements and requests."

J.R. Anderson of Cincinnati-based Jeffrey R. Anderson Real Estate, the developer, said a general envelope is built and "we deliver something very raw and they build it out on their own. That saves us from having to tear things out and do things twice."

But even the raw space has to be flexible.

"We build a cold dark shell, but we have to make sure we have the infrastructure in place for mechanical and electrical systems so that those can be installed where and in the correct quantity the tenant requires," Berntzen added.

Referring to the space as "generic," Berntzen said that HVAC equipment goes on the roofs, while back entrances, dumpster areas, loading docks and storefronts are made as flexible as possible.

Signing up tenants does not solve the build-out issues.

"The tenants' decisions are the most critical element of the project," Berntzen said. "If people don't tell us what they want, we can't do it."

He added that some of the tenants will be major national chains. If there is a marketing change throughout the chain it will have to be reflected in the new store, even if the change happens shortly before the grand opening.

The smaller tenants pose a different set of problems. The center will house quite a few shops in the 500- to 4,000-sq.-ft. range, and the smaller, often-independent retailers usually require handholding during the decision-making process.

"You would be amazed how hard it seems to be for people to make decisions and how often they change their minds," Berntzen said. "We know there are going to be changes and delays, but the one thing that will not change is the opening date."

Retail spaces will be turned over to tenants for build-out by contractors of the tenants' choosing, and although Duke will do some of that work, there will be quite a few other contractors onsite.

Berntzen said that Duke's task of landscaping and installing pavers and pouring concrete for the center's significant pedestrian and parking areas will be complicated by the presence of those contractors and by the delivery of fixtures and merchandise.

Parking, Pedestrian Issues

In a traditional shopping mall, constructing parking and pedestrian areas would not be the issue it is here, but lifestyle centers have a different set of priorities than their indoor cousins.

"We took into consideration the sort of things one should consider when planning a town center," said Alan Bombick, director of the corporate market segment for Legat.

"How far do people have to walk from their cars and what kind of experience will they have are things we look at. At many malls you have to walk through six to 10 aisles of parking. In this center you never walk more than two aisles before coming to a landscaped sidewalk area."

There will be an additional outdoor space set aside for community activities.

"The developer encourages people to linger at the center, not just to shop," Bombick said. The encouragement includes outdoor park benches and covered pergolas to shade seating spaces in some of the landscaped areas.

Pedestrian pathways will be 40 ft. wide, with a landscaped band running down the middle.

"This makes the parking more manageable from a human perspective," Bombick added.

The entire center is designed with an eye to that human perspective.

Bombick described the center as an L shape, with the larger retailers around the L.
"In the center are two smaller buildings with a courtyard between them," he said. "The little shops, a coffee shop, corner tavern, cell phone store, candy store and card shop in that center create a lot of energy and activity, like the center of a small town."