Plans submitted for Independence Mall rebuild

WILMINGTON, NC (StarNews) — Independence Mall’s owner has submitted plans to the city for the first phase of its massive mall redevelopment, opening the way for work to start this year.

Plans submitted Wednesday for phase one of the Collection at Independence — the mall’s new name — call for demolishing the Sears wing and building a promenade-style shopping wing, with stores and restaurants opening onto the parking lot. A cluster of outparcel retail spaces in what is now the parking lot will connect to the main mall building with a walkway.

The existing north entrance to the mall will remain, but be redesigned to include an 85-foot monument-style entryway.

Plans show the new wing will include eight retail pads, 10 restaurant spaces, a “mercantile” store and a 26,000-square-foot grocery store. The plans do not say what grocer could locate at the mall; Wilmington city planners said this week that Lidl, the German grocery chain, was eyeing a location on Oleander Drive.

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