Fast-growing fashion store Forever 21 is planning to move into the first floor of the vacant Mervyn's building at Santa Rosa Plaza mall, a rare sign of life in the county's recession-battered retail sector.
The Los Angeles-based retailer, which has had a small store in the downtown mall since 2002, has agreed to move into the first floor of the former Mervyn's department store, the building's owner confirmed Wednesday.
The two-story, 90,000-square-foot building anchoring the west side of the mall has been vacant since the end of 2008 when the bankrupt Mervyn's store closed.
Though connected to the mall, the building is not owned by the Indianapolis-based mall owner Simon Property Group. It is owned by Ohio-based Developer's Diversified Realty.
A section of DDR's Web site that highlights available leases lists Forever 21 as occupying the first floor of the building. The site indicates the retailer will occupy the 42,648-square-foot first floor, while the 47,610-square-foot second story remains available for lease.
DDR spokesman Scott Schroeder confirmed the deal but provided no additional details late Wednesday. Mall officials could not be reached for comment, and a Forever 21 spokesman declined to comment Wednesday.
The re-leasing of a large chunk of the former Mervyn's building will be a boost for the downtown mall and provides further evidence that the recession's grip may be easing.
Retail vacancy rates remain at their highest levels in 30 years in Sonoma County, hitting 9.2 percent at the end of 2009, according to Keegan & Coppin retail broker Tom Laugero.
But things are slowly improving, he said. "There are signs of life out there," Laugero said.
Orchard Supply Hardware opened on Cleveland Avenue late last year. Performance Bicycle is opening in the former Shoe Pavilion location on Santa Rosa Avenue. And a cosmetics retailer is looking to open in the former Magnolia location in Santa Rosa Marketplace, Laugero said.
This time last year, things were so bad that retail brokers were "walking around with 1,000-yard stares wondering if there was going to be a future," he said.
Now building owners are coming to terms with retail lease values that have fallen 20 to 40 percent, and they need to do business with new types of retailers, Laugero said. "There's a lot of retailers that have been priced out of the market in the past 5, 10 years," he said.
Forever 21 has been opening larger stores to broaden its offerings of hip, inexpensive clothing. The chain, originally known as Fashion 21, was founded in Los Angeles in 1984. As of last year, it had 460 stores in 13 countries.
The move fits with the company's strategy of opening larger stores. In January, the chain opened an 85,000-square-foot store in Cerritos.
The new space in the mall will be six times the size of its current store.
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