QuoteRegency Square mall could be on the verge of getting a major new tenant. International Decor Outlet is a new company with headquarters on Baymeadows Road.
Its business plan, said Sarah Verus, director of business development, is to take over large sections of malls. In that space, they'd set up storefronts for manufacturers of home goods and decor. The manufacturers, who are almost all international, would run their own stores, but IDO sets it all up for them.
The company hasn't opened such a space yet, though it has signed a contract for about 200,000 square feet in the Darien outlet mall in Georgia. That's expected to open early next year, she said.
The Regency Square contract is still being negotiated, Verus said, but the company is looking at starting off with about 100,000 square feet in the west wing with the option to grow.
She said she thought the chances were about 99 percent that IDO would sign the lease and start opening the stores there early next year.
Meanwhile, Jim Kramer, general manager of the mall, said that other tenants for the once-thriving mall are getting closer. The Jacksonville Auto Museum, which has been in discussion with the mall for most of the year, is scheduled to open Dec. 1 on the ground floor of what was once Montgomery Ward, he said. But the museum is still waiting on permits.
Kramer said he is also talking to a church and an auto dealer about the former Belk space.
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Interesting that they're looking at the west wing. That would take demolishing the west/new part of the mall off the table in favor of something new. Most of the tenants are on the east part of the mall and it was rumored they were trying to move everyone over there to do major work on the west.
At the last Arlington CPAC meeting, they voted to recommend that Council deny the Auto Museum request for a liquor license. They are OK with the Museum, but don't see why they need to sell booze.