JustSayinJG

Just curious... you said that two of the five retail spots are now unoccupied. What is the second vacant spot? Did Tropical Smoothie, 9round, or Barberitos close too??

Any new information on this project? I passed by the construction site during lunch today and noticed that there is finally some activity going on after months of no visible progress. A good bit of machinery is now on site along with a truckload of rebar and about a dozen workers moving massive amounts of dirt. I figured this probably means they have settled the issues they were trying to work out with the city and the site design must be final with construction now underway. If so it would be interesting to see if it's going up as originally planned or if there is a new design that includes space for Apple/Target.

Sorry to keep questioning you. I know you're only here trying to spread good news, and I'm happy to hear it. I'm just trying to understand... How is the Vista building such a reputation as a "high end shopping destination"? I get that it's a growing entertainment district with great restaurants, bars, galleries, spas, and salons, but where is this reputation for high end shopping coming from? The Vista has a relatively small Urban Outfitters to go along with a number of small boutique shops..... and? What am I missing? There are currently no other national retailers (other than an always-empty AT&T distributer) and only a handful of the boutiques would qualify as high-end. The Commons at Bull Street, on the other hand, promises to be a true high end shopping destination. Bull Street is just over a mile away from USC's campus (even closer than that to Benedict & Allen) and an Apple Store in Bull Street would attract just as many student shoppers, if not more, than an Apple Store on the ground floor of a student housing development at Assembly/Pendleton. I know you don't have all the answers and are only reporting what information you have. It's just a very curious move for Apple to make if it's true. Idk what kind of incentives Park 7 is offering that Hughes cannot, but they must be significant!

It's definitely feasible, just a big departure from the most recently approved plans which only consisted of less than 3K in retail. Adding retail of that size (At least 25K additional retail) would result in a sizable change in plans. They would have to replace a significant amount of residential units on the lower floors with a big retail space instead which would change the overall look/layout of the building. Wouldn't the developers have to resubmit new plans for approval at that point? I have seen a few newer housing developments similar to this one with Target as the ground floor tenant and could totally see that happening here if they reworked the building plans, but Bob Hughes and the city have been courting Apple to Bull Street for years so it's still surprising to me that Apple would go with a student housing building on the edge of the Vista over anchoring a more retail-centric development at Bull Street. Not saying it won't happen, just seems odd/surprising.

There's no way. The retail space at that site is way way way too small to house a City Target, much less a City Target AND and Apple Store. Have they made significant changes to to the project plan to include a lot more retail and less residential on the lower floors? The latest plan approved by the DDRC just doesn't show anywhere near the amount of retail space that would be needed for those.

Here's the short video about Bull Street www.bullstreetsc.com