Bel Air Mall Renovation (Birmingham, Montgomery: crime rates, outlet mall, racist)

[preguntas]

Originally Posted by bon_regis

I love the general layout and tenant roster over at Cordova Mall. With Destin Commons another hour east of Pensacola, Cordova lacks any immediate competition.

Significant point.

[southinyourmouth]

Originally Posted by preguntas

Significant point.

Bel Air doesn't have competition either being that it's the only indoor mall in the area. Yes, we have other shopping centers but so does Pensacola.

[PortCity]

Originally Posted by southinyourmouth

Bel Air doesn't have competition either being that it's the only indoor mall in the area. Yes, we have other shopping centers but so does Pensacola.

Preguntas is aware of that he knows more about Mobile's shopping scene than we do !

[bon_regis]

Belk Flagship

Online Plan Room | LDI Line

Belk's forthcoming flagship will now be 227,000 square feet on two levels, making it the largest department store in the market.

A substantial interior renovation of the former Sears will comprise the bulk of the project. Surprisingly, the exterior of the building will be largely intact.

Michael Kors, Coach, Vera Bradley and Brahmin will have large branded spaces in the accessories department on the first level. It looks as if Belk's handbag department will be much larger than its Dillard's counterpart.

Polo Ralph Lauren will have a huge presence in the Ladies, Men's and Children's departments with a variety of shops and spaces.

This new Belk location will be a remarkable improvement over current offerings at Bel Air and Springdale.

[preguntas]

As I had written up thread, be glad that the exterior is basically being left as is. The new design that Belk is currently using is just horrible.
It has a very 'big box' look about it, and is mostly just 'Drivit' painted into poorly conceived abstract shapes, not to mention a very ugly battleship grey.

(see Huntsville Belk at Bridge Street, or Greenville, S.C. Belk at Haywood Mall; just remodeled)

Thankfully all Birmingham's larger Belk stores including the two flagship stores, were built as Parisian which usually did a pretty good job with store design. As I recall the Sears building is a very classic nice looking building with a modern bent.

[bon_regis]

The only aspect I dislike of the upcoming renovation is that the south end of the Sears building will continue to be untouched. That facade screams 1967.

[MPC]

I think the renovations maybe are about to ramp up because Rouse Properties (RPI BEL AIR MALL LLC) just received a $120 million loan last month. Hopefully we will see the new plan come to fruition very soon

[Southsky]

I wonder if having Michael Kors in Belk means MK won't have dedicated space as per the plan leaked in the Spring?

[southinyourmouth]

I was thinking the same thing. I really hope they can make bel air turn a 180 and drive the riff raff out of there! it's really sad when you can't even go in the mall without feeling threatened. I cannot wait to see what it looks like and I hope they don't disappoint.

[preguntas]

MK being duplicated in a dept. store is irrelevant in most centers, so I can't imagine why it would make a difference at BA. Many brands are duplicated, it is just a retail fact.