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There is a "coming soon" sign on the pad where Panera Bread will be. The foundation is ready to be poured, but the sign says it will be opening spring 2017.
So this article says Chili's was top begin development back in the Fall of 2015 and Panera should be beginning development soon... any word on what is up with Chili's and why the delay with Panera?
So this article says Chili's was top begin development back in the Fall of 2015 and Panera should be beginning development soon... any word on what is up with Chili's and why the delay with Panera?
I'm not sure what is going on with the whole development. It is moving extremely slow with tenants being just "meh". The developers must be amateurs. They seems to have a lot of holdings in rural West Virginia, not in the D.C. metro region. A D.C. developer would have been preferable.
Hopefully Chili's will build in Martinsburg..one day.
Pretty much forgotten now but about 18 years ago ( 1997 maybe 1998 ) Chili's was at the time very interested in Martinsburg. Enough so they even bought airtime on WEPM/97.5 ( then WKMZ now "Today's 97.5 WLTF" ). Unfortunately for us at WEPM/WKMZ they decided to take a pass on Martinsburg and ended up in Winchester and of course those commercials ended up on the radio there ( Q102, 92.5 WINC and 99.3 The Fox ). I can remember our salesguy was upset about that one. I could be wrong but I think Chili's was looking at the land where Martin's/Olive Garden is located at now.
Somewhat on topic but does anyone remember when Dick Clark ( yes that Dick Clark ) had made a visit to Berkeley County in 2000 ?? Rumor was that he was looking at Martinsburg's Foxcroft Ave. for a location for his American Bandstand Grill. Apparently even the Journal was surprised by his visit since they had called us at WEPM asking if we had heard that he was in Martinsburg. Since that chain is pretty much defunct now maybe it was a good thing Clark had said no to Martinsburg..that is if that was the reason why he was in Martinsburg at all in the first place.
Hopefully Chili's will build in Martinsburg..one day.
Pretty much forgotten now but about 18 years ago ( 1997 maybe 1998 ) Chili's was at the time very interested in Martinsburg. Enough so they even bought airtime on WEPM/97.5 ( then WKMZ now "Today's 97.5 WLTF" ). Unfortunately for us at WEPM/WKMZ they decided to take a pass on Martinsburg and ended up in Winchester and of course those commercials ended up on the radio there ( Q102, 92.5 WINC and 99.3 The Fox ). I can remember our salesguy was upset about that one. I could be wrong but I think Chili's was looking at the land where Martin's/Olive Garden is located at now.
Somewhat on topic but does anyone remember when Dick Clark ( yes that Dick Clark ) had made a visit to Berkeley County in 2000 ?? Rumor was that he was looking at Martinsburg's Foxcroft Ave. for a location for his American Bandstand Grill. Apparently even the Journal was surprised by his visit since they had called us at WEPM asking if we had heard that he was in Martinsburg. Since that chain is pretty much defunct now maybe it was a good thing Clark had said no to Martinsburg..that is if that was the reason why he was in Martinsburg at all in the first place.
Thank you for the historical information! It's interesting to hear some of the historical context in which places in Martinsburg were developed.
Do you remember anything about the site where Weis is supposed to go (across Apple Harvest Dr. from the entrance to The Commons)? Work on that project, presently, is also almost non-existent. Some of the earlier leasing brochures had a planned opening date of Fall 2016, but they have since been removed. I read in some older newspaper articles that there was a massive retail project planned there by Regency Centers before the Recession, but those plans were abandoned after The Commons won final approval.
Inside info I have heard:
* Panera is the one who decided to wait to develop (as opposed to the mall developers putting them on hold)
* They are considering taking down more of the mall (area down by FYE) to create more outside stores
* The excuse they are giving for lack of tenants is that most of the chains they approach already have stores in Hagerstown and/or Winchester and they do not want to water down those stores...
* but from what I hear there is very little staffing as far as the developer goes that actually shows up to the mall everyday - so it is pretty much being ignored...
will never understand why they decided to rebrand BEFORE improving the product....
Inside info I have heard:
* Panera is the one who decided to wait to develop (as opposed to the mall developers putting them on hold)
* They are considering taking down more of the mall (area down by FYE) to create more outside stores
* The excuse they are giving for lack of tenants is that most of the chains they approach already have stores in Hagerstown and/or Winchester and they do not want to water down those stores...
* but from what I hear there is very little staffing as far as the developer goes that actually shows up to the mall everyday - so it is pretty much being ignored...
will never understand why they decided to rebrand BEFORE improving the product....
Thanks for the inside info! Your observations seem spot-on. The project is moving very slowly and doesn't seem to be the developer's real priority.
I wouldn't be surprised if they take down more of the mall, but they'll need to sign some tenants first.
Speaking of History! Martinsburg Mall is Dead. New Owners New Name ... How about New Thread!
On the other hand just how many people outside of Berkeley County or even inside the county know that ?? When Valley Mall went through their remodel and expansion they even advertised the fact as far south as Front Royal and as far north as Carlisle. Everyone knew about it. The Foxcroft Town Center ( Martinsburg Mall ) really needs to get the word out otherwise they will end up in the same boat at WLTF 97.5. People still call them "Lite 97.5" even though they gave up the name some time ago and their old website is now porn. I am sure that they had lost listeners as a result.
Inside info I have heard:
* Panera is the one who decided to wait to develop (as opposed to the mall developers putting them on hold)
* They are considering taking down more of the mall (area down by FYE) to create more outside stores
* The excuse they are giving for lack of tenants is that most of the chains they approach already have stores in Hagerstown and/or Winchester and they do not want to water down those stores...
* but from what I hear there is very little staffing as far as the developer goes that actually shows up to the mall everyday - so it is pretty much being ignored...
will never understand why they decided to rebrand BEFORE improving the product....
Interesting points, especially the third one about tenant reluctancy to locate here because of Hagerstown/Winchester. This probably also answers the questions surrounding the stagnant Weis shopping center project across from The Commons.
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Chili's and delay with Panera
