A radical makeover under way at the Lord & Taylor store in Stamford, Conn., will reflect both cosmetic and functional alterations set for the chain's 47 locations across the United States.
Lord & Taylor owner National Realty & Development Corp. plans to double the size of the current 38-year-old, 150,000-square-foot Stamford store to 300,000 square feet, creating a new retail center. The transformed structure will house a 190,000-square-foot Lord & Taylor, a 60,000-square-foot Whole Foods and 50,000 square feet of upscale retail tenants. The project's design will also incorporate pedestrian walkways, glass facades and fieldstone walls, as well as energy-efficient heating and air conditioning systems.
Construction on the project will begin in March 2008, with completion slated for late 2009. The converted property will serve as the prototype for future Lord & Taylor renovations nationwide, with the Purchase, N.Y.-based NRDC allocating $500 million for the modifications, according to a report from the CoStar Group, a provider of information services to the commercial real estate industry. Last summer, NRDC bought the Lord & Taylor retail operation for $1.2 billion.