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Carolina Place Addition to Bring in Familiar Face?: Family-Friendly Casual Harper's Seen As Good Fit With Mall's Expansion

Posted on: Monday, 3 April 2006, 06:00 CDT

By Doug Smith, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.

Apr. 3--Question of the Week Carolina Place Mall in Pineville has disclosed two retail anchors for the expansion under way at its southwest entrance.

But until now it has been tight-lipped about who the two new sit-down restaurant anchors will be. Guess who one of them is?

Surprisingly, it's not a national chain. It's a familiar Charlotte name: Harper's Restaurant.

Mall owners lean toward the national darlings -- the so-called credit tenants, but at Carolina Place, General Manager Michael Payton said Harper's was his first choice.

That's because he believes the mall and the restaurant share the same customer base: families.

Shoppers who find food that fits their tastes and their pocketbooks in a family-friendly atmosphere are more likely to stay longer and spend more.

Harper's menu items range from salads to steaks and cost from $8 to $23. The average lunch ticket -- excluding beverages -- is $10 to $11 and the average dinner ticket, $15 to $20.

Unlike SouthPark mall, which is upscaling and aiming for the stylish and chic, Carolina Place serves the everyday needs of one of the city's fastest growing residential areas.

As the housing boom spreads to nearby Lancaster and York counties, more shoppers are crossing the state line to visit Carolina Place.

About 35 percent of the mall's business -- it reports about $287 million in annual sales -- now comes from South Carolina, Payton said.

Tom Sasser, president and owner of Harper's Restaurants Inc., said the new location is "an ideal way to expand our presence in south Charlotte, Pineville and nearby South Carolina areas -- introducing a whole new population to the Harper's experience."

The restaurant -- expected to open in December -- is Harper's 13th, but it will be the first within one of the retail industry's hot trends: free-standing shops amid pedestrian friendly courtyards outside the enclosed shopping mall.

Harper's neighbors in the 80,000-square-foot expansion -- under way near Dillard's -- will be Barnes & Noble Booksellers and Recreational Equipment Inc. Both stores are aiming for completion in August.

Sasser said other Harper's restaurants are near bookstores, and he sees a them as natural tie-in.

At Carolina Place, he's considering working with Barnes & Noble to let Harper's customers take beepers and browse the two-story, 31,000-square-foot store while waiting for tables.

Payton said the expansion will include a courtyard and valet parking station.

The new stores will increase the mall's size to about 1.3 million square feet, slightly smaller than SouthPark and Concord Mills at about 1.4 million square feet each.

Carolina Place, owned by General Growth Properties Inc., hasn't disclosed the other restaurant anchor or the specialty retailers planned for the addition.

But Payton said there's a good chance the second restaurant will be a national name with a dining concept that doesn't compete with Harper's.

19 Years of Harper's

Harper's is a casual dining restaurant that specializes in hickory wood-grilled American cuisine with a local flair.

Tom Sasser founded the chain in 1987 with John Collett when they opened the first one on Woodlawn Road. Others are on Fairview Road in SouthPark and in Greensboro, Columbia and Louisville, Ky.

Each time a new restaurant opens, Sasser said, his team applies what it has learned to the next.

He's one uptown's most successful dining entrepreneurs, overseeing five restaurants: Harper's To Go Go, Harper's Blue Ribbon Diner, Mimosa Grill, Arpa Tapas-Grill-Wine Bar and Zink American Kitchen.

Upstream at Phillips Place in SouthPark and Harper's To Go Go on Fairview Road also are part of Harper's Restaurant Group.

The new Carolina Place Harper's will total 7,050 square feet and seat about 200 inside and outside.

It also will have a bar with a display wood-burning pizza oven and a private dining area for banquets and parties.

Construction is to start in May and be completed in December.

Wagner Murray Architects is designing it with an open, display kitchen, wood-burning grill and two dining patios. Myers & Chapman Inc. is the general contractor. Doug

Smith

Doug Smith: (704) 358-5174; dougsmith@charlotteobserver.com

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.

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Source: The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.)

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