GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – A New Jersey developer has plans to purchase and redevelop the struggling East Town Mall, located on Green Bay’s east side near the intersection of Mason and Main Streets.
Kevin Vonck is the city’s economic development director, and spoke to WLUK.
“We’d be moving from turning the mall inside-out more or less, going from a mall with an interior courtyard, taking that all out and basically kind of doing a power retail center”
Currently, there are a variety of stores and a budget movie theatre between East Town’s main anchors of Hobby Lobby and Kohls.
According to city leaders, Lexington Realty International wants to replace the mall with large store fronts, only accessible from the outside.
The New Jersey developer is proposing a 40,000 square foot sporting goods store, 32,000 square foot grocery store, two smaller retailers, and potentially the east branch of the Brown County Library.
Vonck is excited about the possibilities.
“I think they will be names that people will recognize and really be excited about and I think the reason we’re excited about it is those are the types of tenants that attract additional tenants as well”
If this plan moves forward, the future of the mall’s current tenants is unclear. However, city leaders say outlots could be added in the mall’s parking lots, creating more potential retail space.
The city’s redevelopment authority is expected to vote on a term sheet for the proposal during a special meeting today.
As part of the term sheet, the city would be kicking in between $2 million and $3 million in tax incremental financing.
City staff believes the project would raise the mall’s property value by at least $6 million.
It is currently assessed at $9 million.
