70% of former Sears building spoken for, says developer
Some businesses already calling building home
Most of the space in the former Sears building in Charlottetown is already spoken for. The building has been going through extensive renovations over the last year and some businesses have already moved in.
Red Fox Flooring Warehouse and Tangerine Hair and Spa are calling the building home.
"We also have a new wholesale parts and auto parts store opening in the building and we have two other tenants we are pretty close to finishing off negotiations with. So, we have about 70 per cent of the building leased," said Tim Banks CEO of APM Group, the building's owners.
APM Group originally constructed the building and sold it to Sears about 10 years ago. Sears officially closed its doors in January 2018.
APM Group received a loan from the province of $4 million to purchase the building last year.
Leon's opening soon
The building's largest tenant will be Leon's Furniture Store, which is set to move from its long-time Sherwood location and take up around 38,000 square feet — about 35 per cent of the building.
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"Leon's are formally moving into the property and I think they are going to have a soft opening around the first of November," Banks said.
Banks said there will also be two standalone buildings constructed on the property.
"One of them is a retailer of about 8,000 square feet and we're starting that the next couple of weeks," he said.
Banks said he couldn't disclose the business going into the location, but the owners of the business are expected to release that information "in the near future."
"We have a climate control storage facility that is going to start the next 60 days as well," Banks said.
"We are pretty optimistic about how the Royalty Mall or plaza is going to start up."
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With files from Angela Walker