The proposed developments at Brentwood Town Centre, which have been in the news for the past few weeks, got me thinking about how shopping centres have changed over the years.
When it opened in 1961 - long before Metropolis was even a gleam in a developer's eye - Brentwood was typical of the suburban shopping centres that sprang up as people drove, in their newly-acquired cars, to the suburbs in search of a single-family home, garden space, and yes, the traditional white picket fence, 2.5 kids and a dog. Dad often brought in the family's only income, and Mom looked after the family's shopping needs, so the malls were often designed with female shoppers in mind.
Such shopping centres popped up all over North America in the 1950s, '60s and even into the '70s.
They were built in the suburbs partly because of lower land prices than in the city, and often they often opened long before sub-divisions were created on the empty land that surrounded them. As a result, they had big parking lots, because their locations meant you almost always had to take the car to go shopping. With cheap gas, that wasn't an issue.
Lougheed Mall, for example, was there before the nearby highrises; so was Coquitlam Centre. Langley's Willowbrook was in the boonies; Surrey Place was at a busy road junction (King George and Highway 10) which gave great access for the family car; and Guildford was surrounded by a few car dealerships, low-rise apartments and older homes, but not much else.
Look at them now. The former Metrotown Mall (opened in 1986) and Eaton Centre next door (1988) were something of an anomaly because they were created in an already builtup area, right in the heart of Burnaby.
Part of the 47-acre property Metropolis now occupies was already owned by major retailers. Loblaws, for example, owned a Super-Valu store (now Real Canadian Superstore); Sears has been on site since the '50s and at that time, its property included a distribution centre as well as the current store.
As you can imagine, a lot of negotiations and long-term agreements were struck as the land for the malls was acquired around them.
When Metrotown and Eaton Centre combined to form Metropolis at Metrotown in 2005, the nucleus of a prototype "town centre" was already in place, with highrise office towers and condos, as well as a number of older three-and four-storey apartments. Now the mall is surrounded by highrises and more are on the way.
The "town centre" concept, in Burnaby as elsewhere in North America, is that the mall typically provides a central focus to a complete community where people can live and work, walk, bike, drive or take rapid transit, as it suits them, to access a mix of shopping and professional services to meet their daily needs.
As a result, Metropolis and malls like it have become much more than just a place where you can buy a new sweater or a pair of shoes.
They have become central to people's lives - places to meet for coffee, take the kid to the dentist, visit the doctor, use the day-care services; places for entertainment, with cinemas, good restaurants, a hotel for meetings or where business associates can stay overnight, and at some malls, even a theatre.
This concept is what is now planned for Brentwood. Because it was built at a time when people almost exclusively drove to the mall, Brentwood Town Centre has a huge parking area, and with SkyTrain already there, the 30 acres or so it occupies can be put to better use, with whatever parking is needed tucked neatly underground.
It is an exciting project for Burnaby, and we wish the owners, Shape Properties, the best of luck.
Doug MacDougall is general manager of Metropolis at Metrotown.
