West Park Mall developers say four new national retailers committed to first phase

With the West Park Mall in Cape Girardeau under active redevelopment, its owners presented plans for the property to the Cape Girardeau County Industrial Development Authority Board (IDA) during a Tuesday, July 9, meeting.

River City Centre representative Lucas Haley and John Hansen, managing director of the Westwood, Kansas-based Integra Realty Resources (IRR), described the redevelopment process and provided some information on what future tenants looked for when signing leases at the mall.

Four national retailers have already signed leases for redeveloped storefronts. Haley said River City Centre is undergoing negotiations for two more, which he estimated would be complete in the next two to three months. The retailers control the timing for announcing their specific plans, Haley added.

“The retailers that are coming now are retailers that have wanted to come and, in fact, have even tried to come a couple of times but, for a variety of reasons, have not been able to make that happen. They’ve already had Cape (Girardeau) on the radar as, here’s a market where we need an additional location,” Haley said.

None of the retailers have existing locations in the Cape Girardeau market. Haley said the stores would be new, not relocated, businesses. When asked about how these tenants would avoid market oversaturation, he said they aim to fill underserved business niches in the Cape Girardeau community.

The storefronts would have exterior entrances only, with no connection to the inside of the mall. Haley said the tenants did not want multiple entrances because of higher costs and theft concerns. Existing tenants would continue to have space inside the mall.

Hansen told the IDA board that tenants do not want to open stores they feel would not be successful, and they all felt the Cape Girardeau market would be a good fit for their businesses. He said their aim is to funnel customers and new revenue to the county from online shopping and outlets further away.

Once the east wing is redeveloped, the next phase would focus on the remainder of the mall. Haley said his group is in preliminary discussions about creating exterior entrances for tenants on the building’s southeast side.

Haley and Hansen’s presentation specified that both new and existing retailers are interested in seeing the entire mall redeveloped.

“They all want to stay,” Haley said of the existing mall tenants. “Obviously, all of them have desires to be part of the redevelopment area and they want new storefronts and all those things, but for now they’re staying where they are and they’re committed to remain on the property.”

River City Centre met with Hansen and IRR about a public-private partnership. Hansen’s group assisted River City Centre with tax increment financing coordination.

Even with a significant section of the mall under active construction, Hansen said the mall is more than two-thirds contracted, with all active tenants under leases of varying lengths. Notable tenants American Eagle, Barnes & Noble and Old Navy signed new leases within the last 12 to 18 months, he added.

The new tenants in Phase 1 of the development have all signed leases of at least 10 years with multiple renewal options.

Hansen cited various benefits to the redevelopment project, including the reconstruction of a blighted property and the creation or retention of some 700 permanent jobs once the entire project is complete.

He said it also would produce more than $1.6 million in new annual tax revenue for local taxing districts and more than $1 million in new annual tax revenue for the City of Cape Girardeau. The total project would be a $104 million investment.

‘The mall’s trajectory now is not a good one prior to the investments by River City Centre,” Hansen told the IDA. “Property taxes have been declining, sales tax revenues have been declining. We seek to correct that by redeveloping the mall and phase one is a big part of getting that momentum started.” Without development, he said future uses for the mall would be uncertain. Job retention and both property and sales tax growth would all be unlikely.

The national decline of shopping malls has bottomed out, and other malls are increasing in prominence through redevelopments similar to River City Centre’s project, Haley said.

River City Centre acquired the 65-acre property at auction in 2021. The group consists of area residents Haley, Michael Williams and Ben Ressel, with additional investment from Matthew Mills, Natalie Riley and Steve Holden.

Haley said their options were to tear down the mall, convert it into something else entirely or renovate it. They chose the latter, with the Cape Girardeau City Council approving its reconstruction in October 2023. The first phase, estimated for a 2025 spring completion date, focuses on the east wing of the mall.

Tenants will need 60 to 90 days to prepare space, so the schedule of specific stores opening may drift into next summer.