By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Boston Globe Staff
The chief planner overseeing the half-billion-dollar Natick (MA) Mall addition had been kept in the dark about a dramatic design for its new Neiman Marcus store.
''I'd been tipped off it would be something stunning. But they had to get the blessing of Neiman Marcus first," said Jim Grant, vice president of development for General Growth Properties Inc. of Chicago, which is planning the addition to its Massachusetts property.
Three weeks ago, Elkus Manfredi Architects unveiled cofounder Howard Elkus's design, and on Wednesday night the firm went before the Town of Natick's planning board.
''It's stunning," said Grant.
Unlike anything at any mall in the Boston area, the proposed Neiman Marcus exterior was inspired by the folds of a woman's dress, by the collection of fabric shown in the luxury retailer's catalog and by Natick's expressed desire for something iconic in its redeveloped suburban mall.
The design, which will be one of a kind among Neiman Marcus's 36 stores, is a broad, two-story-high, horizontal ribbon of nickel-colored stainless steel over ground-level glass.
''It's fashion and design materiality," said Elkus, who describes the wavy, flowing look as ''magical," ''feminine," ''luminous," ''warm," ''sophisticated." And ''incredible."
Well, it is his own work. But Neiman Marcus executives and Natick planners were also taken by the look of the 100,000-square-foot store, which, if planning and construction schedules hold, will open Sept. 7, 2007.
''Most of the members of the board were very enthusiastic," said Robert W. Eisenmenger, vice chairman of the Natick Planning Board. Eisenmenger said he had some concern that the size and shiny exterior might be too overpowering. ''My guess is those problems can be solved," he said.
Neiman Marcus will co-anchor a new wing of the Natick Mall, reaching out between Sears and Macy's toward Speen Street. The other new anchor tenant will be Nordstrom.
Elkus is courageously politically incorrect in describing his bold vision for the Neiman Marcus store, and its foundations.
''It was important for Marcus as a statement," said Elkus. ''It reflects their values respective to their customers -- 80 percent of which are women." The façade ''has a fabric quality that relates to a dress," he said. ''This store has to appeal to that customer base."
Though Neiman Marcus does have a men's department, Elkus refers to the ''sensuousness" of a façade that covers three sides of the building's exterior, the ''layered beauty" of the molded concrete below, the ''delicacy" of the look it will have at night, with pink granite and groves of white birch trees flanking the store.
Three types of glass will be used on the exterior, much of it celadon. Elkus says it is a warm hue, like the nickel above, which itself ''doesn't shout, like brass or gold."
General Growth, one of the nation's largest operators of malls, purchased the Natick Mall in 1995. It had undergone a major renovation in 1994, but only minor improvements have been made since.
Under a plan considerably revised from what the town approved a year ago, the company hopes to put a road called Flutie Pass underground and build the two-level, 600,000-square-foot mall addition over that street and two levels of underground parking. A boutique hotel is also in the plans.
The old mall has about 1.3 million square feet of space, 165 stores, and 3,500 parking spaces.
The new, upscale mall wing will be on the 17-acre site of an old Wonder Bread factory, which has been demolished. Construction could begin in August.
About 220 condominiums, including a handful of penthouses as high as 14 floors, make up a second phase the company hopes to have approved by the end of the year.
Grant said the prospect of having popular retailers like Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom has increased interest even in the old mall.
''It's given us a lift to allow us to do some better leasing," he said, but, ''We don't want to abandon the customer base we have. We will have a lot of popular-priced stores in the Natick Mall."
Malls have not traditionally been a place people wanted to lay their heads at night, but that seems to be changing. With the addition of city-style amenities like trendy restaurants and expensive stores, the suburban mall development may draw eager homebuyers.
''There's been tremendous interest," said Grant. ''We've got a number of checks people have sent us as deposits."
It's so early that the configurations of the units and prices haven't been set yet. ''We're not downtown Boston," where condos bring $1,000 a square foot, he noted. ''But I think we're talking north of $500 for sure, and probably in the $750 range."
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