Columbia Mall Expansion on Schedule, Stores Set to Open in Nov.

What used to be the L.L. Bean store and a parking lot is now a major construction site complete with piles of steel, debris and dirt. 

On Monday, the Mall in Columbia’s developers, General Growth Properties, took county officials and press for a tour of the site. 

“Tear it down!” yelled County Executive Ken Ulman, who cheered on an excavator as it began to demolish the front façade of the L.L. Bean store. 

Eventually the space will become a 70,000-square-foot retail center that will house new stores and restaurants. Where L.L. Bean sits now, will be a walkway, and then three new buildings will be constructed to the left and right of it.

The walkway will connect to the lakefront, in order to satisfy the Downtown Columbia Plan’s goal of having an interconnected, walkable downtown.

“This is not just shops and restaurants,” said Ulman, who said the expansion is important because it will frame the pedestrian connections that are being built downtown.

Jim Whitcome, a GGP vice president, said the first section of the expansion would open in November. The mall recently announced leasing agreements with two retailers—Lululemon and True Religion—that will move into the new space. 

Whitcome estimated about 20 new retailers will be joining the mall in the new addition. He said that in Novemember, the space will look and feel like it’s complete, but they’ll continue to work on additional tenant spaces, which won’t open until 2014.

The construction on the new space began in February, a foundation was set in March and steel began to frame the new buildings in April, according to Whitcome.

He said the project is on schedule and that currently about 100 construction workers are building it, with that number to increase to 150 closer to Nov.

“We’re very happy with the progress so far,” said Whitcome.

Related Articles

• Mall Groundbreaking Signals Beginning of Columbia's Downtown Construction