With Monday’s announcement that Peterson Cos. and Tanger outlets have reached a deal to bring an outlet mall to National Harbor, one wonders how much is too much?
The outlets at Potomac Mills in Woodbridge are less than 24 miles away and now’s the time of year when weekend beach-goers make the Queenstown Outlets on Route 50 an integral part of their road trip.
But as commercial real estate expert Rene Daniel put it, “retail competition in Washington has a lot of room.”
And, since the recession, outlets have been booming while traditional malls with their huge anchor stores have been struggling. In Maryland, Borders Books & Music has left a giant hole in White Flint mall. Boscov’s Department store during the recession filed for bankruptcy and left several malls, including three in the Baltimore area. Some malls, especially the Owings Mills Mall, are still struggling to recover.
But outlets? Last year, Maryland retailer Jos. A. Bank expanded its outlet store presence, opening five stores across the country. Mall giant Simon Property Group last summer scored the biggest real estate deal of the year when it announced it was buying Prime Outlets’ 21 properties for a whopping $2.5 billion.
Back to National Harbor. Taylor Chess, head of Peterson’s retail development, said Monday the outlets would not only be the closest ones to Washington, but they also address a huge retail need for underserved Prince George’s County.
The option also fulfills Peterson’s apparent goal of offering nearly everything under the sun at its vacation and conference destination.
“We want restaurants, large hotels, small hotels, time share, we’ll be getting the National Children’s Museum, we already have conventional retail and now we’ll have outlets,” Chess said. “This adds a new convenience to the market.”
