Halifax Shopping Centre to get more stores in $70M makeover
The Halifax Shopping Centre is embarking on a $70-million makeover of the mall, putting even more emphasis on fashion and moving away from office space.
Mall management says the redevelopment project will create an additional 75,000 square feet of retail space. That's roughly equal to seven Victoria's Secret stores or 15 average-sized stores.
To do that, the mall is converting office tower one, a three-storey building, into 45,000 square feet of retail space to "showcase new-to-market aspirational brands," according to a news release.
The 30,000-square foot food court will also be transformed into stores.
Halifax Shopping Centre marketing director Stephanie Schnare isn't saying which retailers the mall will be pursuing. But she says the mall is receiving positive reviews from shoppers who are happy to see the recent addition of so-called aspirational brands such as Michael Kors.
"We've had some great feedback from customers as we've added some new tenants such as Coach, Sephora, Fossil and Apple. We'll be looking to them to provide us with some inspiration as well," she said.
Work has already begun to construct a new, bigger food court with an outdoor patio in a space that used to be a bowling alley.
However, the changes mean 12 office tenants will be forced to move in the new year.
Meetings with tenants are planned and Schnare says they'll be offered space in the shopping centre annex across the road.
The OWL Project, which prepares older workers to enter the job market, has been a fixture in the mall for about 20 years.
OWL manager Judy MacKay says she feels sad about the move.
"I really like where we are here, it serves our purpose very well," she said, citing the mall's location on bus routes and free parking.
But MacKay is confident the mall managers will help her organization find a new space in the annex.
The redevelopment project means an additional 11.5 per cent increase in retail space for the 645,000-square foot mall. The work is expected to take two years and be completed by late 2016.
