ASHWAUBENON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Even before the coronavirus pandemic, Bay Park Square Mall had been operating without three of its four anchor stores, but creativity is helping fill some of those empty spaces.
Dave and Busters will open its doors on January 25th, bringing foot traffic through Bay Park Square’s west anchor for the first time in more than two years.
About this time next year, Steinhafels Furniture and Mattress plans to activate the south anchor after what will be more a more than three year vacancy.
“The vibrancy of the mall is excellent,” said Chad Dern, Steinhafels’ Marketing Director. “We did a lot of work there looking at the traffic counts and things like that. We think it’s going to be a great location for us.”
Steinhafels paid $3.1 million for the old Younkers building through an auction. It will use all of the second floor and half of the first floor, leasing out the other half.
“We’ve had some contacts with some people as we’ve kind of reached out, but nothing firm there, but I think we’ve got some good people who are interested for the same reasons we are,” said Dern.
Across the street, the former Gordmans is going to be converted to Epic Event Center. It’s another example of Ashwaubenon’s recent success turning former big box stores into something new.
“It’s become more of a function of the market and the buildings coming down in price a little bit and people being a little imaginative in how they use these buildings,” said Aaron Schuette, Ashwaubenon’s Community Development Director.
Bay Park still has one empty anchor store to fill, the old Shopko. Schuette tells FOX 11 there are no leads right now.
“There’s been a lot of people kicking the tires on it and I guess that is something we keep our fingers crossed we’ll have some good news in the future.”
The old Shopko store is listed for sale online at $5.5 million.
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