Developers must shape their projects to the needs of the people occupying and using them, and not the other way around, according to the Mastering Mixed-Use panel on Wednesday at ICSC New York Deal Making. “We’re leading first with the consumer,” said Jodie McLean, CEO of Edens (pictured above), which has 125 mixed-use and retail properties across the U.S. Retailers must be relevant to the people occupying and using other parts of the development, she said. “The retail on its own can’t be successful without bringing in a lot of people from other parts of the mixed-use.”

The tenant mix also must be appropriate for the market in general, observed John Mears, vice president of acquisitions at Equinox, an upscale fitness chain and a subsidiary of development company Related. For instance, Equinox co-tenants at the Music Lane mixed-use development on trendy South Congress Avenue, in Austin, Texas, are contemporary restaurants, a social club and the like. The Equinox neighbors at its posh River Oaks District location in Houston, on the other hand, are upscale. The mixed-use format must avoid the homogeneity that comes with housing the same national tenants, Mears cautioned.

People should be top of mind when it comes to design, said McLean, and projects should allow for gathering places and easy access. “People want vibrant streets, and you can’t have vibrant streets without sidewalk width.”

Parking, too, should be designed with customers in mind. “The biggest challenge is figuring out the parking,” she said. It is not enough just to provide a large parking lot; parking has to be convenient to a mixed-use property’s wide variety of tenants and visitors, as well as offering them a sense of place. And make sure there is enough of it, stressed Mears. While there has been talk of a reduced need for parking, “the reality is that nothing has changed,” he said. “More is way better for everyone.”

Another rule for mixed-use development is to stick to what one knows. Retail developers should confine themselves to the retail component and leave office and residential builders to be the specialists in those areas, panelists said. “Retail is where we need to stay focused,” said McLean. “It’s a really complicated business; we don’t need to tell anybody that.”

Justin Stewart, president and co-founder of co-working space developer Industrious, avoids straying into food or retail. He has not the time anyway: The company has nearly 100 properties across 47 cities and is working with such retail developers as Macerich, Seritage Growth Properties and Taubman Centers.