Shoe Chain DSW Coming to Stuart Center

By Eve Samples, The Palm Beach Post, Fla.

Feb. 7–The national shoe chain DSW is making its first foray into the Treasure Coast market, joining Belk and Barnes & Noble at the Fountains at Stuart, a 320,000-square-foot open-air shopping center being built on U.S. 1.

The Fountains’ developer, Montgomery, Ala.-based Trotman Co., announced Wednesday that Columbus, Ohio-based DSW, the cosmetics chain Ulta, Swim ‘n Sport, the toy store Learning Express, men’s clothier Jos. A. Bank, sunglasses retailer Solstice and Aveda Day Spa have committed to opening at the “lifestyle center,” which is expected to be Stuart’s answer to Downtown at the Gardens.

The project also will include about 57,000 square feet of office space and a high-end independent steakhouse, the Prime House.

The latest retail roster is in addition to the tenants Trotman announced last year: Belk, Barnes & Noble, Talbots, Coldwater Creek and J. Jill. But none of the stores will be open for this year’s holiday shopping season.

Trotman said Wednesday it would open March 11, 2009, six months later than originally planned — a time frame the company attributed to delays obtaining permits.

Given the housing slowdown and “general malaise of the economy,” the later date might prove better timing anyway, said Charlie Trotman, the company’s president.

The Fountains is about 50 percent leased, and some national chains — mainly women’s apparel companies — are waiting to commit until they see how sales progress at other stores.

“Throughout the rest of the spring and into the summer, these tenants will be deciding where they want to be,” Trotman said.

DSW’s store at the Fountains will be 14,000 square feet, slightly larger than the 10,000-square-foot Ulta store. The shoe chain’s nearest outposts are at Palm Beach Mall in West Palm Beach and on Glades Road in Boca Raton.

DSW Inc. (NYSE: DSW, $18.06) now has 259 locations around the country, according to the company Web site. The chain is aiming for more than 400, Douglas Probst, DSW’s executive vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer, said during an investor conference in December.

Even though the shops at the Fountains won’t open until spring 2009, Howard Neff Jr. hopes his steakhouse will greet customers there late this year. The Jensen Beach-based investment adviser, who is opening the restaurant with partner Terry Zambas, said the Prime House will be similar to a Ruth’s Chris or Morton’s, with leather chairs and tall, private booths.

Neff, who also is a restaurant-industry veteran, hopes it helps fill the upscale-dining void he sees in Martin County. “Literally, Martin County exports hundreds of millions of dollars to Palm Beach because we don’t have high-end shopping, we don’t have high-end restaurants,” he said.

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RVI, ULTA, JOSB, EL, BKS, TLB, CWTR, JILL,