Big changes at the Avalon Mall are set to get underway before the end of the year, including the reconfiguration of the Polina Road intersection.
City council approved a plan that would see the redevelopment of the former Sears space, a 105,000-square-foot extension of the mall onto the parking lot near the Winners entrance, as well as an extended strip mall and two new buildings in the parking lot.
While Crombie REIT — the owner of the Mall — gets that work done, the city will work on upgrading a sewer system that runs beneath the mall parking lot and a reconfiguration of the Polina Road intersection.
Development lead Coun. Maggie Burton says timelines are a little uncertain right now, but the hope is to get shovels in the ground before the end of the year.
“Those projects will happen in the same development process as the mall’s redevelopment,” said Burton.
“With the approval in principle today, we did help speed up the process and make sure they can go ahead with their redevelopment plan and know that our work will be complementary.”
In part to mark its 50th anniversary, the Avalon Mall is undergoing a $54-million redevelopment that is expected to take the next three to four years to complete.
Perhaps the largest change will be the extension of the mall to encompass the parking lot in front of the former Sears location, out as far as the current bus stop nearest the Winners entrance.
Crombie REIT did not respond to a request for comment by The Telegram’s deadline to outline any plans for the additional space.
For drivers, the biggest change will be a new intersection at the mall’s entrance, which will line up with Polina Road. Traffic lights or a roundabout will be installed at the new intersection. Transportation lead Coun. Debbie Hanlon says a decision hasn’t been made on that front just yet.
Hanlon says there have been calls for changes to the current intersection since her first stint on council, especially following the death of Nick Coates at the intersection in 2013.
Coates was riding a motorcycle when he was struck by Ronald Thistle, who was drunk at the time of the incident. Thistle served two years in jail because of the accident.
“There’s been calls for action for that area for some time, so I’m really pleased to see us moving ahead with it,” Hanlon said.
One of the reasons for the delays in reworking the area is the city having to sync up the development to the plans of Crombie REIT. Hanlon says the city had to consider the scale of the redevelopment.
“We had to work with the owners of the businesses as well to make it work. If you look at the plan, they’re doing significant improvements,” she said.
There are no cost estimates from the city about how much its portion of the redevelopment will cost, but a figure will be released when a plan is finalized.
david.maher@thetelegram.com
Twitter: DavidMaherNL
