SACRAMENTO BEE - Citrus Heights Workhorse Sunrise Mall Defies Recession Odds

Sunrise Mall once created traffic jams during the holidays and kept a waiting list of stores clamoring to move in – back when cars came with eight-track tape decks.  In the nearly four decades since it opened, Sunrise Mall has had ups, but remarkably few downs.

As the recession turned some malls into near ghost towns, the aging, suburban Citrus Heights mall has defied odds with less than 10 percent vacancy, a healthy rate even in good times.  It´s been lucky in some ways, shrewd and smart in other ways. And it needs to stay smart for a sustained future, say retail experts.

No one knows that better than Christi Woodards.  In the midst of bag-toting shoppers on a weekday morning, Woodards´ high heels clicked down the mall´s walkway as she inspected the real estate she manages.

"It´s not sexy. It´s a workhorse," she said, frankly assessing the mall anchored by Macy´s, JC Penney and Sears. "Are we ever going to be the sexy one? No. But we´ve stayed pretty steady all these years."

There are none of the banners here found in vaunted malls these days: no Pottery Barn, no Crate & Barrel, no Gap, no Restoration Hardware.  But you can get a nice set of tires at Sears, grab a Cinnabon, buy a Hallmark birthday card and get fitted for a suit at Macy´s.

Sunrise is more than a place to shop for Citrus Heights.  After Steadfast Commercial Properties bought the mall in 2008, Woodards became general manager.  She might as well be city manager.

Citrus Heights, which became a city in 1997, has never had a true downtown. Sunrise Mall with its 1.2 million square feet and 115 stores dominates the flat, sprawling, suburban landscape.  Here, early morning walkers pace indoors.  A weekly farmers market on the acres of asphalt serves the town. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a candlelight vigil drew mourners to the parking lot. On the Fourth of July, fireworks explode overhead as locals gather to watch.  The pro tennis team, the Sacramento Capitals, played at Sunrise Mall until the team recently departed for the Roseville Galleria.

"We´re key for the city," Woodards said. "We´ve got people who come in every other day. People grow up in this mall."

Besides an emotional center for the city, the mall is the biggest revenue producer: The mall and other businesses in the surrounding Sunrise Marketplace District generate $6 out of every $10 of sales tax revenue for the city.

"It´s a very solid product for the community," said Rhonda Sherman, the city´s community and economic development director. "It provides good value, a safe place." 

Built on oak-studded fields at the crossroads of Greenback Lane and Sunrise Boulevard, the mall started with a bang, literally, in 1970. Multi-colored explosions at the site were set off by remote control inside the Senator Hotel, 15 miles away in downtown Sacramento.  Opening in phases in 1972, Sunrise Mall stood alone then as the premier regional shopping center.

Arden Fair was years away from its major makeover. Florin Mall was already weakening in its draw.  Downtown Plaza in Sacramento had not undergone its transformation into a two-story outdoor mall, and Roseville was still a sleepy suburb without a movie theater.

As shiny new malls opened and others renovated, drawing big-name retailers, Sunrise Mall´s regional dominance seemed to shrink.  But the very thing that is killing other suburban malls might be Sunrise´s saving grace.

"Regional malls need to be near a freeway these days to survive," said Garrick Brown, an analyst with Colliers International in Sacramento.  "Several miles from the nearest freeway, Sunrise Mall should have been doomed, but it´s densely hemmed in by homes – customers," he said.

"Those customers have decided they would rather shop at Sunrise than battle traffic to reach other malls," Brown said.  "Sunrise is weathering well by capitalizing on the local population base, providing a strong family attraction with its mix of retail, and adhering to a middle-class market," he said.  "Offering attractive, competitive leasing terms to independent businesses that couldn´t normally afford a mall address is also smart strategy," Brown said.