‘River’ Quenches Shoppers’ Thirst

Apparently embracing the “town center” design concept that has proven popular elsewhere in Southern California, Coachella Valley residents are crowding into the restaurants and theaters of the River, a newly opened outdoor shopping center. Although upscale Rancho Mirage does not lack stores, merchants in the $50-million, 240,000-square-foot mall report serving more customers than they planned for when the mall opened late last year.

Borders--the first large-format bookstore in the Coachella Valley--is experiencing heavier-than-expected sales volume since opening in October, and has hired 45 sales clerks rather than the 30 planned, said General Manager Tawny Raymond. Another tenant, P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based restaurant chain, is attracting diners in numbers “beyond our expectations,” said operating partner Tom Eads.

The mall’s success, according to its developer, Jerry Snyder, is based on two factors: the appeal of a traditional shopping street and the spike in the tourist trade after Sept. 11 to places such as the Coachella Valley that can easily be reached by car.

In the “town center” design scheme, shopping complexes are built to look like downtown areas or city squares, with outdoor walkways, plentiful landscaping and street-like arrangements of shops and restaurants. Town center-style shopping districts have proven particularly popular in suburban settings that lack traditional shopping streets or other notable public gathering places. Such projects have popped up in recent years in Brea, Calabasas, Irvine, Pasadena, Santa Clarita and Thousand Oaks. Although the Coachella Valley is rich in attractions and sporting venues, such as golf resorts, country clubs and tennis centers, the area is lacking in pedestrian-oriented public places.

“We are filling a social need,” Snyder said.

The River, said Eads, quickly established itself as a destination. “It’s the only place in the [Coachella] valley where people can go with undefined plans, and say, ‘we’ll figure out what to do when we get there,’” he said. At least one local resident agreed. The center is “like nothing else in the valley,” said Dr. Joseph P. Durante, a Rancho Mirage obstetrician. “The outdoor environment has added a lot” to the area.

If the River has a gimmick, it is water, which has obvious appeal in a climate with sunshine 350 days a year and temperatures often soaring into the triple digits. Five acres of the 30-acre site are covered in water in various displays. A reflecting pool of nearly 2 acres along the front of the shopping center is a startling sight in the high desert and serves as a sort of billboard. The center’s design by Jerde Partnership of Los Angeles also includes stepped waterfalls, fountains lined in black river stones and the namesake “river,” studded with artificial rocks, that runs down the major walkway inside the center.

The River started two years ago when Barry Foster, economic development director for Rancho Mirage, asked Snyder to submit a proposal to the city on the property, which had gone undeveloped for nearly a quarter century. Before Snyder, said Foster, “we had gone through six or seven developers,” none of whom could put together a project that was acceptable to the city or to retailers.

Meanwhile, retailers were bypassing Rancho Mirage in favor of newer locations, such as La Quinta, said Snyder. The Los Angeles developer, who had been a weekend resident of Rancho Mirage for 20 years without building anything in the Coachella Valley, responded with a proposal for an entertainment center, anchored by a multiplex cinema and oriented around open courtyards and water features.

Some earlier developers had wanted to build so-called power centers composed entirely of stand-alone, “big-box” retailers, surrounded by an asphalt lake of parking. The city refused. “Mr. Snyder had the vision to create that focal point, a downtown for the community,” said Foster. “I think the city could have easily changed the direction and settled for something marginal [in quality], settled for something different, such as a big-box center. But that was not the wish of the community.”

The centrality of Rancho Mirage in the Coachella Valley--the city is roughly equidistant between Palm Springs to the west and Indio to the east--gives the center a good location. Foster said the center would draw its customers from the cities of the Coachella Valley, many of which are arranged along Highway 111 like a string of beads. The River’s trade area is also a large one, according to Foster. The Coachella Valley has a full-time population of about 310,000 people, plus a part-time population (such as owners of second homes) of 140,000. In addition, the area attracts an estimated 3.5 million visitors annually.

Beyond demographics, the search by vacationers for travel spots closer to Los Angeles has benefited places such as Rancho Mirage, said Snyder. “What has really helped is that people don’t want to fly,” he said. “The desert is booming because of Sept. 11.”