|
Urban Outfitters opens first Charleston store
By Rachel Pleasant
Staff Writer
If Christopher Price were shopping, he would probably walk right past Urban Outfitters, unfazed by the trendy tees and funky furniture.
But for Price the real estate developer, who prefers decidedly un-Urban items such as khakis and blazers, the Philadelphia-based retailer has long been a top priority.
He and his company, The PrimeSouth Group, relentlessly pursued Urban Outfitters, intent on bringing the first South Carolina location to Charleston.
“They’re a hot retailer,” Price says. “The demographics of the area lend it to more of a college- and youth-oriented type retailer.”
It took two months for Urban to sign a letter of intent on the 371 King St. location, the former Garden Theater, and another eight months to sign a lease. “This is one of the most difficult national retailers to negotiate with,” Price says.
With that hurdle cleared, Price and his team faced Charleston’s Board of Architectural Review. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the effort to transform an 87-year-old building into space for the hippest of retailers was not easy.
“The difficulty was that the tenant was trying to make the building identify with their brand,” while others wanted the building’s original character preserved, Price says.
The Urban Outfitters project galvanized public input, and the BAR process took about six months to complete.
“It’s been really controversial,” said Eddie Bello, the city’s urban design and preservation architect, who said details, including windows facing King Street that Urban Outfitters hoped to change, making the space more conducive to retail, struck a chord with citizens and preservationists.
A recent visit to the 16,000-square-foot building leaves no doubt that the delicate balance between preserving the past and making way for the future of King Street retail, is fought every day.
“This is probably one of the most intricate and detailed projects I’ve ever known, and I’ve done medical buildings, medical technology buildings. We did the Pottery Barn (also on King Street),” Price says.
On this day, the issue of a pair of giant projectors mounted in a small room in the building’s balcony is a perplexing one.
“What am I going to do with these things?” Price asks himself while thumbing through the projector instruction manual, copyrighted 1945.
Ideally, at least one of the projectors will be put on display inside the store, Price says.
Compared to what has already been done thus far inside the building, the issue of projectors seems a minor detail
The badly damaged roof has been repaired. Approximately 500 seats were removed.
In the most labor- and time-intensive aspect of the project, the sloped floor, which began several feet inside the building’s entrance, has been leveled. At its deepest point, near the first row of seats and the heavy red curtains that once framed the screen, the floor was about six feet lower than at the front doors.
“We had 90 truckloads of dirt we had to bring in to smooth out the floors,” Price says. “That was definitely one of the most challenging aspects.”
Interior walls have been removed to make the space open and airy, making way for plenty of racks and merchandise displays.
Plaster that had decayed for years has been carefully restored, and intricate woodwork near the ceiling has been spared.
While much remains to be done before the store opens later this year, Price’s Urban Outfitters ride is all but over.
“I bought the building and created a white box of retail space. We turned it over to Urban Outfitters in May.”
The Urban team, Price says, will invest approximately $3 million more into the building.
The balcony, accessible by a door and flight of stairs to the right of the main lobby, where blacks were once relegated during shows, will become a three-tiered shopping area. Such quintessential theater details as those red curtains will remain in place.
A mammoth skylight will be installed atop the first-floor lobby, and the projection room will be removed.
As for the exterior: “Everything is being preserved,” Price says, and a marquis will be installed, bringing back the theater feel of the building.
“This is the most unique thing I’ve done,” Price says.
|
E-Mail This Article
Printer-Friendly Version