Coral Ridge Mall wants larger store in vacant Sears space

UPDATE: Coral Ridge Mall's corporate owner is in negotiations to add what would be the biggest store at the mall, but no one is saying who that retailer may be.

The store would go in the spot recently vacated by Sears. The interested tenant believes that one-story space, at 98,596 square feet, is undersized and would want a two-story, 200,000 square-foot building, John Bergstrom, senior vice president for mall owner General Growth Properties, told Coralville's Planning and Zoning Commission this month.

That would top the 129,581-square-foot Dillard's department store, currently the largest store at the mall, according to Johnson County property records.

Coral Ridge Mall General Manager Monica Nadeau would not say Friday who the retailer is or whether it would be new to the area.  She confirmed it would be an anchor store.

“We are in negotiations with a tenant, but there isn't a firm commitment and we're not ready to announce anything yet,” she said.

The city is involved because Chicago-based General Growth Properties wants to amend an agreement it has with the city that requires the mall to have five parking spaces per 1,000 square feet of leasable area. It wants that reduced to 4.5 spaces per 1,000 because a 200,000-square-foot store would add to the leasable area, Nadeau said.

Jim Kessler, the city's building and zoning official, said a check of other General Growth malls found that the 4.5 ratio was common and Coral Ridge Mall has enough parking to accommodate the change. The Planning and Zoning Commission voted 7-0 to recommend the City Council approve the plan.

The council will have a public hearing on the request at its meeting April 23.

Kessler and Mayor Jim Fausett said they did not know who the prospective tenant is. Fausett, though, said getting a retailer in the vacant space and doubling its size would be good for the mall and the community.

“That's always great," he said of expanding retail options.

General Growth's Bergstrom told the Planning and Zoning Commission that the plan was to demolish the Sears space to make way for the two-story building.

Sears Holding closed its Coral Ridge Mall location earlier this year after announcing a year ago it would shutter 34 stores nationwide due to poor sales.

Bergstrom said work is expected to begin in 2015 and finish in 2017.

Nadeau said she could not estimate when negotiations with the retailer would be completed and an announcement could be made.