The Short Version

• Edens CEO Jodie McLean said the company designs its properties to feel like neighborhoods where people can connect, linger and return regularly.
• Edens tailors each of its more than 100 open-air retail and mixed-use properties to the surrounding community rather than applying the same experience across its portfolio.
• McLean said every 10% increase in time spent at Edens properties corresponds with a 2% to 4% rise in sales.
• McLean linked Edens’ focus on human connection and community-building to NOI growth across its $7 billion portfolio.

Building Places Where People Connect — and Return

Edens CEO Jodie McLean looks beyond anchors and amenities when measuring the success of the more than 100 open-air retail and mixed-use properties her company owns. Her success yardstick assigns great value to development of community-minded destinations that feel like neighborhoods and draw visitors of all ages.

During a keynote at ICSC@NEW ENGLAND, McLean said the best performers in Edens’ $7 billion portfolio hold broad generational appeal. A grandfather might pick up his granddaughter after school to savor some ice cream at an Edens property. A mom and dad might head out for a date night. Teens and tweens might browse stores and hang out with friends.

When Edens’ planners ask community residents what they’re seeking from a retail or mixed-use development, they hear responses like “I want a place where I can make a friend” or “I want a place where I can spend time with other human beings,” McLean said. And when designing a property, Edens professionals begin by pondering how people want to feel when they visit, she said. “We’re not looking to design places that people go to one time … and they leave. We’re looking to design places where people come back over and over again.”

She said Edens’ properties will continue to resemble neighborhoods rather than just shopping, dining and entertainment destinations. “I don’t mean that they’re necessarily going to be mixed-use,” she said, “but I really think they’re going to feel more like neighborhoods than strip shopping centers.”

How does that neighborhood feeling come to life? McLean said Edens properties are “places where we can slow down, where we can connect, where we can be in and out quickly or we can linger for longer periods of time.” She added: “We think about how people are engaged at our places. We prefer it to be a positive and a happy connection, so play has become more and more important to what we’re doing.”

Brick-and-Mortar’s Human Advantage

Of course, sales activity also matters. McLean noted that the bulk of retail sales still happen in brick-and-mortar stores. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, e-commerce represented 17% of U.S. retail sales in the first quarter of this year and the remaining 83% came from in-store and other offline purchases.

So why do people keep flocking to brick-and-mortar spaces? Because they crave human connections that they can’t enjoy online, according to McLean. But the experience Edens creates is tailored to each community. For example, the atmosphere at the Shoppes at Ryan Park in Ashburn, Virginia, a Washington, D.C., suburb, may differ from the atmosphere at the company’s 27th & Larimer retail hub in Denver’s River North Art District.

Designing for Connection and Dwell Time

Across its portfolio, Edens integrates green spaces, outdoor plazas, pedestrian-friendly walkways and artwork to foster a sense of community. This enables visitors to engage beyond shopping, thus lifting dwell time, according to McLean. That’s valuable in the literal sense of the word. For every 10% of extra time people spend at Edens’ properties, sales rise by 2% to 4%, she said. This additional “wallet share” enables Edens to raise rental rates, grow net operating income and improve shareholder returns, she said.

Placer.ai’s June 2026 Mall Index — which tracks 100 indoor malls, 100 open-air shopping centers and 100 outlet centers — underscores shoppers’ desire for outdoor amenities. According to the index, foot traffic at open-air centers — the core of Edens’ portfolio — jumped 4.7% year over year for the first half of this year, compared with 1.9% for enclosed malls and 1% at outlet centers.

Community Impact as a Performance Metric

One of Edens’ four key performance indicators revolves around community impact. Factors that make up this KPI include trips; dwell time; sustainability; and local health, education and public safety, said McLean. While a property might not promote school attendance or health outcomes, Edens’ destinations can contribute to people making better life choices, she said. “Whether it shows up in how it’s designed or how it’s curated, there is this passion for our places that make them just feel good,” McLean said.

That translates into designing and curating places that don’t offer parallel experiences but do give visitors the chance to cross paths with “consequential strangers,” she said. Edens, a 60-year-old privately held REIT, invests in art to spark conversations and thus nurture interactions among these strangers.

While such approaches cultivate a sense of community, they also must align with Edens’ dollars-and-cents realities, according to McLean. The company’s NOI growth indicates that community-building and financial goals can feed one another. She said that over a recent 10-year span, Edens’ NOI outperformed all of its peers’ portfolios by close to 100%. That, she suggests, indicates the company’s business model “is great for the community and it’s great for the business itself.”