Guest Editorial: The Lessons of Versace and Scottsdale Fashion Square

By Recker McDowell —

Scottsdale Fashion Square is landing a new Versace store to go along with other luxury locations for the likes of Tiffany & Co., Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Prada.

Fashion Square’s new Nieman Marcus anchored luxury wing and attraction of high-end brands along with a new Apple store helped spur sales at the mall.

Fashion Square sales now stand at $1,472 per square foot. That is up from $1,032 before the Macerich owned mall new and enhanced luxury efforts.

Fashion Square’s attraction of high-end stores and popular new restaurants as well as the development of a new hotel show the power of Scottsdale’s brand and provides productive lessons for other developers, property owners and policy makers.

Scottsdale continues to prove it has the brand and cache to attract luxury brands and top restaurants.

Macerich and other mall owners have faced the need to evolve their business models as traditional retailers faced e-commerce and the age of Amazon.com.

Other property owners, developers and the city of Scottsdale should remember some of these lessons.

Scottsdale can attract high-end brands, cool culinary concepts and employers who are looking for prime amenities for their workers.

There are existing buildings and properties in downtown and southern Scottsdale where owners and the city should at least look at their potential beyond their existing uses.

There are uses and properties, especially Old Town’s art galleries, and restaurants that are essential to Scottsdale’s fabric and charm.

But there are also plenty of properties in downtown, southern Scottsdale and even to the north where their current uses might not be unlocking their full economic and community potential.

The lessons of Fashion Square and landing the likes of Versace should be food for thought as the city, property owners and developers look at the future paths for specific parcels, projects and Scottsdale’s overall vision.