Richard Birdoff, RD Management

One key to a successful shopping center is having a grocery anchor. Simply put: A grocery store is a staple to every community, as many people visit grocery stores multiple times a week. This drives a tremendous amount of foot traffic to other retailers in the shopping center. Welcoming a national grocery store of the caliber of Stop & Shop to our Milford Crossing shopping center in Milford, Mass. created an entirely different demand for the property – let me explain how.

The redevelopment of this center has been in the works for over two years. National retailers of all types had expressed interest in the 66,000 s/f vacant space, but we knew that a grocer would drive substantial interest from small shop retailers, and we waited patiently for the right grocer to come along.

There was interest from several grocery chains, but we ultimately signed with Stop & Shop for various reasons. For one, we have a great relationship with the retailer, as they have multiple locations throughout our portfolio. They’re one of the top grocery stores in the Northeast, and more importantly, they were already established in Milford, having been a member of the community for close to 30 years. We were both interested in obtaining a fair deal and that was the basis of our negotiations. Stop & Shop will end up with a new state-of-the-art store and we will end up with a fantastic anchor to the shopping center – it is a win/win combination.

The new Stop & Shop at Milford Crossing, which is approximately two miles from their existing location, is scheduled to open in fall 2017. The energy-efficient store will offer local customers an upgraded market-style produce department with more organic choices, a wider selection of products in natural and organic foods, an expanded selection of deli and prepared goods, plus other signatures like a full-service meat and seafood department.

Milford Crossing - Milford, MA

Milford Crossing is a 136,675 s/f shopping center located right off of I-495 in a busy retail corridor. We added a new 80-foot pylon sign that’s highly visible to drivers from all directions on the well-trafficked highway. The former Kmart and gym at the site will be completely renovated for several new anchors. Stop & Shop will take a portion of the Kmart building with two other national retailers filling the balance of the space. In addition, we’re building a new 20,000 s/f center, and adding a 6,000 s/f addition onto the existing strip center, which will be refurbished to be in architectural harmony with the Stop & Shop building and the balance of the new construction. All site construction, lighting, and landscaping will be upgraded.

Construction will start in the first quarter of this year and we anticipate completion by the first quarter of 2018. We are excited to bring a top grocery store to Milford Crossing, and are in discussions with a variety of other national and regional retailers and restaurants that have a lot to bring to the community. There will be grocery, fashion, restaurants, in-line retail, and an office component, making Milford Crossing a truly mixed-use destination.

In the end, Stop & Shop was the perfect tenant to kickoff our redevelopment of the center. Stay tuned for more to come from Milford Crossing.

Richard Birdoff is principal and president of RD Management, New York, N.Y.