Center of attention

Nearly all space in Legacy Place is snapped up before its opening

Legacy Place, a retail-restaurant-entertainment complex, is being built off Route 128 in Dedham. (Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff)

DEDHAM - Despite the national economic crisis and falling retail sales almost everywhere, one of the largest shopping centers in the inner Boston suburbs is now rising off Route 128 in Dedham.

A year before its scheduled opening, the $100 million Legacy Place lifestyle center shopping and entertainment complex is already 95 percent leased, according to W/S Development Inc. of Chestnut Hill, codeveloper of the project with National Amusements Inc.

Located at the junction of Providence Highway and Route 128, Legacy Place is being built on the sprawling parking lot of the now-demolished Showcase Cinemas of Dedham. Steel frames of four of the seven buildings planned are now up at the busy construction site.

"This will be a unique project on the Boston retail landscape," said Brian T. Sciera, vice president of lifestyle centers for W/S Development. "We have a tenant mix that hits a sweet spot in the market."

The 760,000-square-foot open air center will feature 80 stores, eight restaurants, and a 15-screen movie theater complex. Retail tenants include L.L. Bean, Whole Foods Market, and Borders. Among the restaurants are P.F. Chang's, Legal Sea Foods, and Ruth's Chris Steak House. There will also be a King's bowling alley and nightclub.

Sciera attributed the project's leasing success to its desirable location on the suburban highway net work and its setting amid upscale suburbs south and west of Boston. He expects the center to draw from about a 7-mile radius, which includes the towns of Milton, Needham, Westwood, Dover, and Norwood, as well as Dedham.

Nationally, retail construction is down by more than one-third in the first half of 2008 from the same period last year, according to McGraw Hill Construction, which tracks trends in the industry. The US Commerce Department reported that retail sales have fallen for three consecutive months. September's 1.2 percent decline was the biggest monthly drop in three years.

The developers of Legacy Place appear to have benefited from good timing, according to Robert Sheehan, vice president for research for Keypoint Partners, a Burlington real estate company. "I'm sure they had commitments from tenants before the downturn. If they hadn't, it could be a problem," he said.

Sciera said none of the signed tenants have backed out because of financial difficulties. "We haven't had any fallout," he said. "I don't know if we'll be that lucky all the way through, but so far we haven't lost any."

Sumner Redstone's National Amusements, parent company of Viacom and CBS, is the longtime owner of property where Legacy Place is being built. National Amusements got its start with a drive-in theater on the same land 60 years ago, and built the Showcase Cinemas of Dedham on the site in 1973. National Amusements' corporate offices and a 15-screen flagship luxury multiplex will be key features of the complex, according to the developers.

There are no large shopping malls on Route 128 between Braintree and Burlington. The nearest large retail complexes to Legacy Place are South Shore Plaza in Braintree and Chestnut Hill Mall. Retail developers have been eyeing land along the southern half of Route 128 for decades, but most of the prime properties were acquired by high-technology firms and industrial users not long after the highway opened in the 1950s. A proposal for a mall near the interchange of routes 135 and 128 in Dedham met opposition from residents and environmentalists and was abandoned in the early 1990s.

Legacy Place's developers won town approval last year after promising traffic improvements and agreeing to promote the Dedham Square shopping district, a traditional downtown about a mile away.

The new shopping complex could eventually face some serious competition. Westwood Station, a residential community and office complex with a large regional shopping center, is being planned off Route 128, two exits away from Legacy Place. But Westwood Station's developers have yet to name any signed tenants. Wegmans, an upscale grocer looking to expand into the Boston area, is considering opening a store at Westwood Station, but legislation that would allow the store to sell beer and wine has been stalled in the Legislature.

Sciera said Legacy Place and Westwood Station have been vying for the same retailers. "The competition ended up being a good thing. It raised the attention to a national level," he said. "We are just playing offense at this point."

Robert Preer can be reached at preer@globe.com.