When there’s not enough demand — other ways to fill a block

In a theater block that Moule & Polyzoides Architects designed in downtown Albuquerque (see Dec. 2002 New Urban News), some of the storefront retail extends only 30 feet deep, rather than the 60 feet that Goody, Clancy believed necessary in an eastern section of Cambridge, Massachusetts. That difference in depth hints at how difficult it is to arrive at hard and fast conclusions about retail. Many assumptions about retail vary with the project, the place, and the person who is doing the calculations. On the theater block, retail is intended mainly to enliven what would otherwise be a dull, windowless stretch of streetscape. A retail enterprise capable of operating in a very shallow space can animate the sidewalks. “Coffee shops and bakeries can be put into spaces of any depth,” says Bill Dennis, head of Moule & Polyzoides’ Albuquerque office. “Of course, the less depth they get, the more frontage they need.” On the perimeter of a parking garage that’s under construction in Albuquerque, Moule & Polyzoides designed ground-floor retail spaces 45 feet deep, matching the depth of loft apartments in the upper stories. Local tenants are the retailers most likely to accept a very shallow retail space, according to Dennis. National and large regional tenants prefer 60- or 80-foot-deep stores, he says. “Junior anchors such as Banana Republic and The Gap like 120 feet.” Where the initial demand for retail is weak, another alternative is to build live/work units. These may house services or professional offices along the street. Though not as lively as stores and restaurants, they’re more pedestrian-friendly than are blank walls or plain parking garages.