By Mary Jo Melone, Contributing Writer
The story of what happened to Pam Meinzinger is a snapshot of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Tragedy tested her faith. Out of faith came strength. Out of strength came rebirth.
Meinzinger, senior general manager of Prime Outlets-Gulfport (Miss.), lost her father to the storm. He died of kidney failure two days after Katrina struck.
But Meinzinger was soon back on the scene at the outlet center, located near I-10, about 60 miles east of New Orleans. Now she is leading the revival of the 10 year old, 302,866 sf center- taking it to what Prime president Robert Brvenik has called “a whole new level.”
Most tenants now open
Like the rest of the Gulf Coast, progress is slow but steady and strong. The center reopened the day after Thanksgiving with 43 of its 67 stores open. Now 54 stores – many of them prototypes – are open. New tenants, including Aeropostale and PacSun, are coming.
And the drive is on to recruit more high-end tenants. By year’s end, Meinzinger says, the center should be leased to pre-Katrina occupancy.
For now, 300 of the center’s 450 employees are back on the job. Their return has been hampered by the fact that they don’t have homes to return to – only, in some cases, FEMA trailers.
Nevertheless, says Meinzinger, “We’re alive and well much sooner than anticipated.” She predicts that 2006 will be a record year for the outlets stores that are back in business.
Prime Outlets - Gulfport is part of what Gov. Haley Barbour calls the Mississippi Renaissance, says Meinzinger
Center gets facelift
In keeping with that theme, the center – which lost most of its roof to the hurricane – is getting a total face-lift. While the center was once more festive, with bright colors, she says, “We’re going to do a very sophisticated look, with black and white awnings, black shutters, a butter cream yellow paint.”
Even the restrooms are being renovated – with brushed steel fixtures, stark white Corian countertops and black and white tile floors and walls.
The designer, New Yorker Joel Gevis, called the look “Southern elegance, “ Meinzinger says.
With his background and reputation, Gevis will almost certainly produce a showstopper. He has worked for, among others, Karl Lagerfield and Andrew Lloyd Weber.
Prime, meantime, wants an offering of stores to match the outlet center’s new presentation. “To go with a more elegant look, we’re going to do more upscale leasing,” Meinzinger says.
Work is also under way to restore the center’s trademark cupola, which the storm left dangling at a 45-degree angle in the parking lot.
Helping the community
While the center rebounds, it is also playing a key role in the community’s revival. President George W. Bush stopped at the center Sept. 20 during one of his early tours of the devastation. The center served as a staging area for utility crews working to restore power.
And in April the center welcomed 100 employees of the Mississippi Development Authority, which is offering $150,000 grants to residents whose homes were flooded but who lacked flood insurance. The agency rented three storefronts to take applications and process paperwork. The authority expects that as many as 10,000 applicants will pass through in the next two months.
Everyone is treated like a potential Prime customer. “We created a flyer encouraging them to sign up for Prime Outlets 1Club, so they can get specials from the stores along with our mall brochure,” says Meinzinger. “The merchants have put out flyers with discounts of their own at Guest Services.”
Residents interested in new types of homes can find them at the outlet center. Two modular homes are in its parking lot, and as many as 100 people are touring them daily. These people, too, are potential outlet shoppers.
Reconstruction boom
The center’s revival is being fueled by the Gulf Coast’s reconstruction boom.
First, consider the casinos. “They have so much money, they can build very quickly,” says Meinzinger. Three are already open, and others plan to open on Aug. 29, Katrina’s anniversary.
Next comes the housing. “We have multiple condo projects breaking ground,” she says.
And finally there are the very basic needs of Gulfport’s residents who lost nearly everything. Even though center traffic is down, sales are up.
“They are not buying one pair of shoes,” Meinzinger says of local shoppers. “They’re buying five pairs of shoes. The retailers are very, very happy right now.”
And well they should be. Several stores set sales records during the holidays, including Nike, Ultra Gold and Diamond, Zales, Polo Ralph Lauren, Gap Outlet and Coach.
At least four stores did not return – Bible Factory Outlet, Koret, Yankee Candle Company and Dress Barn. In Dress Barn’s case the store did only mediocre business before the storm, says leasing agent Charlie Devine of Devine Lerner Serwer. “We were also concerned that it would take a long time to rebuild everything,” he says.
Overseeing the job
Meinzinger’s job is to speed things along – even as she manages the routine needs of the property. “Probably 60 percent of my day is on the reconstruction – analyzing prices, getting bids, quality control and conference calls, plus any issues that come up with the tenants. We understand. We want it to be seamless for the tenants.”
When she speaks about the center and her experience of Katrina, she puts the experience of others first, and not her own. She points out that the other three employees of the management office lost their homes. The center security guards slept in the food court. Prime officials flew in to check on every center employee and gave them boxes of food and supplies.
After her father died, Meinzinger said, “Prime told me to take all the time I needed, but I also knew that I had an enormous responsibility to Prime and the tenants.”
There were days when she was in contact only by two-way radio. There were days, once she was back in her office, when she had her 13-year-old daughter answering phones.
Hurricane season is approaching again, but Meinzinger prefers not to dwell on it. She’s looking forward, not back. So are the rest of the people who work at Prime Outlets-Gulfport.
“Everybody is just pulling up their bootstraps and getting on with it,” Meinzinger says. “We want to be on the forefront of the Mississippi Renaissance.”
