The Gateway Mall’s proposed redevelopment could end Springfield’s long-standing authority to approve anchor tenants.
The Gateway Mall’s proposed redevelopment could end Springfield’s long-standing authority to approve anchor tenants.
City leaders have never exercised that authority, but it was important to them when the mall was first proposed in 1988 because the area was coming out of a recession and city officials wanted guarantees that the proposed mall development wouldn’t turn into a “small set of uncoordinated strip malls,” said John Tamulonis, the city’s community development manager, who served in a similar position at the time the mall was being developed.
As The Register-Guard previously reported, the mall’s owner, New York-based Rouse Properties LLC, has submitted conceptual plans for a massive makeover of the enclosed mall . The biggest change under those plans would be the demolition of the food court and 12-screen discount theater to make room for several new large retailers and smaller shops, all accessible from an outdoor walkway. The mall owner has declined to discuss its plans for the mall.
Read more at The Register-Guard.
