Brookfield Properties, the owner of Omaha’s Westroads Mall, has officially sold the former Younker’s building to Dillard’s. The sale closed September 5th.
Dillard’s plans to completely gut the long-vacant anchor space on the mall’s west end and build a 32,000 sq. ft. addition. After the expansion and renovation, the 2-story department store will total 207,800 sq. ft. A new entry will be included as part of the addition.
Because the construction project will be so extensive, the Westroads Dillard’s won’t open until 2027. Dillard’s plans to relocate its Oak View Mall department store into the Westroads space. Dillard’s has a history of using closed stores as clearance centers, but no public announcement has yet been made.
As part of the project, the former Granite City Food & Brewery building will likely be demolished to make way for additional parking.
“Dillard’s coming in is a game-changer for our mall,” said Ryan Conlon, general manager at Westroads. “They’re a very successful department store – one of only two that are still publicly traded.”
Construction is expected to begin right away, and some equipment is already on site. Little Rock, Arkansas-based Dillard’s, which operates 278 stores in 30 states, will use its own in-house construction company to build-out the Westroads store.
“Dillard’s will significantly modify our merchandising plan,” Conlon said. “We’re expecting more merchants to follow.”
In fact, Conlon hopes to make another new store announcement in the next couple weeks, one that “will create a lot of excitement before the holidays.”
The yet-to-be-announced retailer is taking over the former Forever 21 store, a 2-level space near the mall’s center court. At 30,796 sq. ft., it’s the largest non-anchor space in the mall. The lease is going through final execution at this time. The retailer is a “family-friendly, recognizable brand” that plans to open in time for this year’s Christmas shopping season – no later than Black Friday.
Once that lease is finalized, Westroads will be 98 percent occupied.
One of the few remaining vacant spaces is a former Panera restaurant space near Von Maur. Conlon said the Westroads leasing team is actively looking for just the right restaurant or retail concept for the 4,500 sq. ft. space.
