In 2023, developer Waterstone Properties Group is going to finish what it started in 2022 by adding four new properties to Rock Row, which also now includes New England Cancer Center along with residential housing.
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Things continue to look up for Rock Row, the $600 million, 110-acre, mixed-use development in Westbrook.
Rock Row’s tenants include not only retail, but also hospitality, medical and housing, which are “all different verticals when it comes to real estate,” said Alexander White, senior vice president and head of leasing at Waterstone Properties Group, the developer of Rock Row.
In 2023, White predicted, the Needham, Mass.-based developer is going to “finish what it started in 2022” by adding four new tenants to Rock Row, which also now includes New England Cancer Center.
White, who was a Mainebiz 40 Under 40 honoree, says he’s particularly excited to add Cowbell Burger to the mix next year. The location will join restaurants in Scarborough and Biddeford. Orangetheory Fitness, a group workout franchise, and Sport Clips, a locally owned haircut franchise, are also scheduled to move in.
White said that will leave only one space left to fill and complete phase 1, and Waterstone plans to construct a “vanilla box build-out,” a short-term pop-up type of store.
The new ventures will add to the mix that includes Market Basket, Chik-fil-A, outdoor retailer Recreation Equipment Inc. (REI), the Paper Store, Chase Bank, Starbucks and five other stores.
Although inflation had a negative impact on Rock Row in 2022, the site still saw 27 million visitors, White said, and he expects that number to grow next year.
Waterstone plans to keep on building on the success it had by hosting holiday events as a draw for shoppers, including a lobster tree and an appearance by Frosty, and host more guest experiences.
In the winter “you don’t really want to sit on the couch and order online,” White says.
When asked about the forecast for retail, White says in-person shopping is “important to shoppers overall, and attractive to consumers because it’s ‘more experience-driven.’”
The pandemic, White pointed out, impacted certain kinds of retail positively, such as grocery stores, furniture stores and home improvement.
Now in year three in the multi-year project, White says Waterstone expects a full build-out “in the next couple years.”
“We spent a lot of time understanding what people in the community want to see,” White says. “It wasn’t just dropped in the middle of Maine.”
Waterstone holdings, which cover 14 states, include Kittery Outlet Center and Scarborough Art Gallery in Maine.
