June 13, 2015
HOLLAND TOWNSHIP, MI -- When Westshore Mall's de-malling is completed in 2016, there will be two new restaurants.
On The Border, a national chain of Tex Mex restaurants, and Anna's House, a popular Grand Rapids chain, have signed on to open locations at the Holland Township shopping center.
This will be the fourth West Michigan location for Anna's House, which announced in March plans to for a Grandville restaurant across from RiverTown Crossings Mall. The restaurant, which serves breakfast and lunch, is known for its organic options.
On the Border, a casual sit down restaurant with a liquor license, serves lunch and dinner. The chain has West Michigan locations near Woodland Mall in Kentwood and RiverTown Crossings in Grandville.
The new tenants were announced at a groundbreaking this week for the $25 million project that will convert the shopping center into a power center, which is basically a mall without the interior space. The result will be rebranded The Shops at Westshore.
The mall's 410,480 square feet will shrink to 367,000 square feet of leasable space and would include four new out-lot sites. On the Border will located in free standing restaurant on the southside in a new building.
Anna's House will take over the former Red Lobster building.
More retailers will be announced in the coming months, said Jean Ramirez, the mall's general manager.
"The demalling process is quite complex," said Ramirez. "We have been spending a lot of energy getting the property ready to de-mall."
The process has included emptying out the nearly vacant mall by letting leases run out. Just five stores have signed on to stay and will remain during the year-long construction process. Anchors Younkers, JCPenney and Dunham's Sports are staying put while The Buckle is and GNC are relocating outside the construction zone.
Metro Detroit developer Greg Erne has tapped the design team behind Centerpointe Mall's successful 'de-malling' of the shopping center he and investors acquired in 2012 for $5.5 million.
Versa, along with out-of-state investors, bought the 40-acre property that sits between James and Felch streets, east of U.S. 31 for $5.5 million in 2012.
Erne, a partner in Southfield-based Versa Development, the mall's parent company, has also contracted with Grand Rapids mall's current leasing agents to fill Holland's biggest shopping center with retailers.