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Moline Leaders could approve Southpark Re-development Plan

The Moline City Council has discussed re-developing the Southpark Mall for a year and a half now. Tuesday, February 25th, 2014, the Moline City Council could ap...

The Moline City Council has discussed re-developing the Southpark Mall for a year and a half now. Tuesday, February 25th, 2014, the Moline City Council could approve the new development agreement.

News 8 obtained drawings of the new mall back in November of 2013. The mall's owner, Macerich, hopes to make more of the mall an outdoor structure in the re-development. The drawings show that the four anchor stores, JC Penney, Von Maur, Yonkers, and Dillard's, would still be on each side of the building. Nearly 1 out of 5 storefronts around the Southpark Mall are currently empty.

Macerich also plans to demolish the old Sear's store and food court. Moline Councilman John Knaack says that the Illinois Department of Transportation has preliminarily approved an agreement for an entrance way to the mall off of John Deere Road. There's no word on when construction would start on the new road though.

"To have them make that commitment to where they're actually going to demolish part of the mall, where their market value would go down, gives me the positive hope that they're going to make the mall successful," Moline Mayor Scott Raes said. "I think this is a great thing for the city."

Construction could start as soon as next month. The new part of the mall could be complete by November of 2014. Tuesday's meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. at Moline's City Hall.

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