Downtown Cleveland may soon have to step up its retail options — if it wants to compete with Robert L. Stark Enterprises. The company is developing Crocker Park on the west side of Cleveland, which will offer a plethora of high-end fashion retail and residential space, Class A office space and restaurants. On the east side of Cleveland, the company is developing Eton Collection, a lifestyle center that will feature nearly 225,000 square feet of prime retail and office space.

“I am the self-professed poet developer, and I get my kicks out of innovating,” says Robert Stark, CEO of the Cleveland-based development company. Nearly 14 years ago, he developed The Promenade of Westlake, a strip center that is located adjacent to the site where Crocker Park is being developed. At that time, the strip center was on the cutting edge of retail development because it had upscale fashion tenants and tremendous finishes, such as ceramic tile façades and stone column bases. It also had a $1 million perennial garden. “The only strip centers that were being built, if they were at all, were supermarket neighborhood centers,” Stark says.

About 7 years later, developer Rick Caruso created The Promenade at Westlake in Thousand Oaks, California. “It was strikingly similar,” Stark says. “I was so impressed with what he did and how he executed the center, that I decided to Caruso-fy my developments.”

From that point onward, Stark was inspired to create centers where shoppers could feel transported. “You have the convenience, the impact, the presence and everything that is right about a strip center, and then you make it pedestrian oriented,” Stark explains. “You create an illusion that where you step out of the field of parking and onto the curb, you are suddenly transported.”

Crocker Park

Crocker Park, which is scheduled to open in October 2004, will feature 900,000 square feet of multifamily space (both rental and for sale), 550,000 square feet of retail space and approximately 250,000 square feet of office space.

Stark decided to take the idea behind The Promenade and expand it to create Crocker Park, a main street development on nearly 80 acres of land in Westlake. “It was a bedroom community suburb, and it had no downtown at all,” Stark says. “We are creating it from scratch at Crocker Park.”

The approximately $450 million project is modeled after Mizner Park, an 880,000-square-foot, high-end, mixed-use development consisting of offices, retail space and residences in Boca Raton, Florida. “I was inspired a long time ago by Tom Crocker, who built Mizner Park,” Stark says. “The feeling there is great. I thought if I could create a Mizner Park that also has the best national retail in the country, then I would have something special.”

And that is exactly what Stark has done. The layout of Crocker Park’s Main Street is very similar, even to scale, to Mizner Park. Taking advantage of the fact that Crocker Park is located on Crocker Road, Stark poetically chose to name his development as an ode to the innovator of main street lifestyle developments, Tom Crocker. The project, which will total 1.7 million square feet, will consist of 900,000 square feet of multifamily space (both rental and for sale), 550,000 square feet of retail space and about 250,000 square feet of office space.

In addition, Stark has been sure to include plenty of restaurants at the project. “In a development of this size, in my opinion, you have to have 15 to 20 eateries,” Stark explains. “If you put all of these millions of dollars into developing the streetscapes and you don’t give shoppers a variety of dining options, you are making a big mistake.”

Some of the eateries that have signed leases at Crocker Park include Brio Tuscan Grille, Pancho Villa, Cold Stone Creamery, Blake’s Seafood, and Hyde Park Grille. Retailers include a flagship Barnes & Noble, Z Gallerie, Talbots, Dick’s Clothing & Sporting Goods, Regal Cinemas, Sur La Table, Abercrombie & Fitch, J. Jill, Coach and Victoria’s Secret.

The project, which will total about 12 city blocks, is scheduled for completion in October 2004. “We broke ground on the first city block [in March],” Stark says. “We are building a city here.”

Eton Collection

Gerald Austin (left) and Robert Stark (right) of Robert L. Stark Enterprises, discuss the development plans for Crocker Park and Eton Collection.

Across the Cuyahoga River, on the east side of town, Stark is also working on a development called Eton Collection. The existing mini mall is located in Woodmere, Ohio, on Chagrin Boulevard. “Eton Collection fronts on the absolute spine of affluence of the east side,” Stark says. “It has 100,000 square feet of office on top of 130,000 square feet of retail.”

In September 2002, Stark purchased the development from the owners, who decided to remain in the project as partners. As part of the project, Stark is tearing off a portion of the mall and increasing the entire center to about 225,000 square feet. Similar to Crocker Park, Stark has added wide walkways in front of the center, as well as landscaping details such as sculptures, planters and fountains.

Besides making it a beautiful place, Stark’s goal is to change shoppers’ lifestyles. “The most noticeable way that we are going to do that is by creating an environment that people want to engage often.”

Stark plans to populate the center by providing top notch retail and restaurant options. “In this center, we have 10 eateries,” Stark says. “That is very deliberate because this is going to be a hip and happening place.”

For example, Stark has brought in a new concept out of Pittsburgh called Bossa Nova. “Bossa Nova is a comfort lounge for people over 30 to sit and have a drink and talk for the evening,” Stark says. “It is going to change the way people live on the east side of Cleveland.”

Additional eateries include Bravo Cucina Italiana, Cameron Mitchell’s Fish Market, Cold Stone Creamery, Pancho Villa, Tuscany and Stone Oven. Retailers at Eton Collection include Sur La Table, Barnes & Noble, Organized Living and Trader Joe’s.

The area surrounding Eton Collection boasts a trade area population of 800,000 and an average household income of $116,500. In addition, there is nearly 6 million square feet of office space in the area. “It is the upscale office building district of the suburban east side,” Stark says. “All of the fanciest hotels in suburban Cleveland are also at the intersection of Interstate 271 and Chagrin, which we are right off of.”

According to Stark, this is the perfect location for such a project. “It is going to be an in-your-face development.” The center is scheduled to open this September.


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