We Value Bloomington-Normal

BLOOMINGTON -- The view along Veterans Parkway is already in the midst of a makeover, with several vacancies providing more opportunity for redevelopment.

"Much of the space will be redeveloped," said Bloomington City Manager Tom Hamilton. "That's just natural."

Consider newer developments like Washington Commons at Veterans and Washington Street, where restaurants replaced an old hotel, Hamilton said, or the 15,800-square-foot strip mall under construction at the site of the former Bombay Bicycle Club, 305 Veterans Parkway. The Shoppes at College Hills replaced the old College Hills mall.

Some of those projects took several years to redevelop, and they're just a start. The Twin Cities' currently have some major vacancies on or near its main thoroughfare:

-- Damon's restaurant at Veterans Parkway and Fort Jesse Road was demolished in January, opening prime real estate at one of the Twin Cities' busiest intersections. The two-acre parcel remains on the market for around $1.75 million to $2.18 million.

-- Shooters Buffet, 1700 Parkway Plaza Drive, near the Wal-Mart off Veterans Parkway, is being transformed into a seven-tenant strip mall.

-- About 11,000 square feet at the Brandtville Center has been empty since The Park restaurant closed more than a year ago.

-- A Paul Mitchell cosmetology school will occupy about 20,000 square feet at the Jewel-Osco building at Veterans and College Avenue, but around 30,000 square feet remains available. The store has been vacant since January 2005.

-- The former K's Merchandise space, 1403 Veterans Parkway, has sat empty since February, and several other storefronts in the Lakewood Plaza strip mall remain vacant as well.

Struggling to attract interest in the space as a whole, New York-based DJM Realty considered subdividing K's and leasing smaller parts, but Wal-Mart Realty, a division of the mega-retail chain, now controls the property, said Lara Rycyk of DJM.

Wal-Mart's Web site lists the 108,000-square-foot property available for lease "as is."

Will "as is" be acceptable to prospective tenants?

In other parts of town, some landowners have been forced to find new uses for massive, outdated retail buildings. Originally built as an outlet mall, the Crossroads Center in west Normal is slowly transforming into a business park with office space and even some light manufacturing, for example. The U.S. Post Office on Towanda Avenue once was an Eagle grocery store.

But unlike those spaces, Veterans Parkway remains a retail hotspot.

"Veterans Parkway is the prime place for retail at this point in time and will stay that way for quite some time," Hamilton said.